He's Never Gone
by ChrisMcLean-Cody-Duncan-TD
Summary: Duncan had been gone for several weeks, and people were doubting he'd ever come back. But Courtney knew he would. And even if he never did, she would find him. No matter what. But Courtney knew in her heart - he's never gone. There's a lot to come, a crazy trip around the world in hope of finding Duncan, and no matter what she faces, Courtney won't give up. Camp NaNoWriMo story
1. Duncan's POV - Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 – Duncan's P.O.V.**

I've never felt so much hated in my life.

In all honesty, I never really feel hate that much. It's kinda something that shifts to the back of mind in most situations. But the problem is, that Courtney's at the back of my mind, so I'd have to bring her to the front to put to the hate to the back, and I honestly think I'd just prefer to be hated.

It's been a pretty long time since I lost saw her, thinking about it. A month or so. She's probably panicking like the Princess would, I guess.

Usually, I'd have this whole consideration about where I am and what has generally happened, but I only know parts of it, and it never really adds up when I think about it. I'm on the outskirts of some town – I don't really see much, it's mostly just plains that run for miles and miles. How I got here, I have no clue. The land is so desolate and destroyed that I can't even tell where I am or how we ended up here. I remember a plane – maybe it wasn't, but I had a feeling it was a plane, you know, the feeling that you get when you're airborne. And I remember the older gang's brothers – they were David and Andrew, and I'm pretty sure David worked as a pilot and Andrew worked as security. I'm still mildly shocked that they were able to do that because you think at least someone might question why a 15 year old kid is carrying a large brown sack full of something that is unidentified.

Just tells you what security is like when your family works at the airport.

They _really _had planned this carefully.

I'd say I'd been here for a thousand years…but if Courtney was here, and we had seen each other lately, she'd probably end up screaming at me and saying that it's actually only been two weeks. Sometimes I wonder how we get along. Wait – we don't.

Yeah, I miss her. It's rather difficult not to, to be perfectly honest, when you're alone on a desolate plain. If I'm here for another month, I'll probably miss Harold, and if things come to _that_, I'll be in a mental asylum before I can call Courtney 'princess.'

I've had ideas on how to get out of here, but they all fail. Or I think they'll fail. I've thought about just trying to out-run them, but that doesn't really work, because there is more of them and I'd have nowhere to run to. I thought about shooting them with laser guns but then I found out that most places to not have laser guns to just be given out, which I guess is a decent point. And then I thought I could just kill them full on, but then the thought that I was only 13 resurfaced, so I kinda gave up on that.

If only Courtney were here. Courtney would probably know what to do. She's not really the strongest type (problem – if she was here I'd probably get kicked for that) but she seems to be pretty smart. In time, I'll probably get out of here. How long can they honestly hold me captive? They'll probably get pretty bored soon enough, anyway. And their food can't be too great anyway, and they'll probably give up sleeping in tents in another two weeks or so, and then I'll plan my escape. That's a lot easier.

I wonder what my parents would be doing. They rarely notice me, except from when I'm going somewhere important. They've probably just stuck up a flyer on one of those big 'missing' boards in their office and will leave it there until I'm found. They probably won't pay much attention to the case anyway. Apparently they had this really big case going on a few weeks ago about some kinda kid criminal that kept stealing from all these big stores like Apple and GameStop…oh. Yeah, I probably should have realised that's me.

I'm just going to pray that they don't find the PS4 or iPhone 6 hidden under my mattress. I really should have brought that iPhone with me, now thinking about it. They probably would have stolen it, but if they didn't see it, I could be playing QuizUp. Courtney's absolutely great at it, but I really suck at it. I can't get a single question right. It's maybe because I haven't watched any of the nerd film or read any of the books or actually bothered watching the sports with my dad for ages, and I can't really be bothered to do it now.

Or I could have played Candy Crus-uh – no! I don't play Candy Crush. It's really bad. I swear, I don't play Candy Crush. Honestly, Candy Crush is really bad.

Back to the point, I'll probably be outta here sooner rather than later. In time, some attention will probably draw to my case or something.

I'm just hoping that they pick my 'missing kid' case first, because there are literally thousands of them on that board. I bet half the kids are probably dead already. And if they don't pick my case up in the next year, or so, I'll probably be shot, starved to death or just murdered full stop.

So this is where I am. I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere, except I know that there is some large plain and very few trees, I know next to nothing apart from the fact I'm probably in a different country, and I don't really know what actually happened to Courtney and she doesn't really know what actually happened to me, except I was kidnapped and I'm somewhere on Earth.

She probably doesn't know that, actually. She might jump to extremes and claim I'm on Mrs or something to the police, while my parents look at her and laugh hysterically claiming their son hasn't left the house for ages and asking her how he could have possibly gotten to Mars without a rocket.

So, with no Courtney, no source of communication, and no decent people to talk to, I'm still here.


	2. Courtney and Chris McLean's - Chapter 2

**Courtney's P.O.V. – Chapter 2**

I kick the stone on the pavement and my head flashes to the ground in an instant at the noise as I walk to school, hands in pockets and not looking at all like Courtney Jones should be when she's about to get learn something – grumpy.

_Nothing_. I haven't heard anything of him for the past month. I've looked on the internet and tried to see if there was absolutely anything but nothing ever shows up. I feel like it's my fault no one has seen him for ages, I feel like it's my fault that I was out there, I feel like it's my fault that he's still out there, somewhere, more or less waiting for someone to come and help him, and I, once again, feel like it's my fault that no one actually has. Every second of every day I'm told by Gwen and Bridgette that it isn't really my fault, but let's just generally admit it – it's my fault. I lost him and I didn't do anything to help him, and that's MY fault.

It's not like I meant to lose him. If I did, I would have probably done it in a much better way. I would probably have given him up in a flash to the police (another police force, not his parents), and collected a good bit of money for it. I wouldn't have let him get kidnapped by total strangers, who probably aren't smart enough to actually think of my plan and are probably not dumb enough to give him up to the law.

I've checked everywhere in the city. I've even been out of the city, and there's nothing. I'm starting to panic that I'll forget absolutely everything I've learnt from all my studying for the past 13 years because I've not been revising enough. Every single second of every day after school and before school is just looking for Duncan. I'm beginning to feel like I should just give up full stop. He could probably have escaped them by now – he's Duncan, after all – but he would have come back by now if he did. He would have found me by now, and he probably would have found his parents would by now. Not that he cares for them much.

I look up and see the school gates in a distance. I stop and look at them for a moment and generally think what would be different he was here. The rattle of the wheels of his skateboard against the pavement, the shouting, him pushing people to the ground and laughing and tens of kids lying on the ground, knocked over. And none of it's here – I just hear the impatient roar of the car's engines, waiting to get a good spot in the car park, the children standing up perfectly straight and laughing with happiness.

Yeah, the world really has taken a turn for the worst without him here. Imagine about half a year ago I would have immediately agreed that the world was a better place without that punk, and here I am now, so badly wishing and so badly hoping that he will appear. And then, the general disappointment that always hits of knowing that he will not appear.

Maybe he just hates me. Maybe he really doesn't have feelings for me, and this whole thing was set up to amuse him, along with my kidnapping a few months back. Maybe this is just a stupid game for him to play so he can later rub it in my face that I fell for him and he outsmarted me. Maybe he's away, studying or something, so that when I get into one of the best schools, he'll be there, saying that a criminal outsmarted me when I was younger. I just know this will happen.

Why did I ever on earth think…he was Duncan after all…

No. I won't fall for it. Not this time. Duncan Rivers I will not fall for your stupid tricks and stupid games, because Courtney Jones is smarter than that.

_Ugh_, I think, pacing up to the school gates, _this world really is a better place without him. _

**Chris McLean's P.O.V**

"I'm _bored_," I complain impatiently to my niece, standing next to her locker in her school. "This is so _boring_. Why can't we put printers on our head? Or drive go-karts into class? Why can't we shred all the textbooks? Why can't we hire a galactic monster to destroy a classroom? Why on earth can't we ask Chef Hatchet to annoy some sixteen year olds?"

"First, we don't have enough printers, and you'd probably break every single one of them. Second, where are you going to get these go-karts, and how are you going to bring them into _my_ school? Where do you hire galactic monsters? Who is Chef Hatchet? And last but not least, _DON'T YOU HAVE A JOB?!_" she screams at me, angrily. "I've got stuff to do. _Places to be_. I don't need you constantly tagging along to every single place I have to go. It's starting to really be annoying. One of my best friend's boyfriends got kidnapped and I really don't need a star tagging along and distracting the whole search."

"Wait, so what happened again? Did Muncan die or something? Where was his funeral? Why wasn't I invited? What was the reception like? Did you eat cake?"

"No, _Duncan_ didn't die, he's just gone missing. And he's been missing for a month or so, and it's not really something you can keep avoiding in your everyday life. And it really doesn't help that he's nowhere in the city."

I burst into absolute laugher. "LOL! LOL! Didn't that happen to Courtney, not Duncan you idiot! Oh, we obviously know who didn't get the brains in the family!"

She looks at me as if she's tired of what I just said, her expression changes and she literally face palms herself, "It happened to both of them and that's why it's so bad. I'm not sure you got the brains either. I think you were the one that actually got nothing."

"I got my smile, and my amazing ability to act, which I may remind you, you lack completely and my ability to walk with several printers on my head. Ha-ha! I inherited something after all."

She mutters something that I can't completely catch but it's something along the lines of 'why can't', 'normal' and 'uncle.'

Sometimes I think Gwen doesn't really grasp the reality of these kinds of situations. Duncan's probably away, skipping in pixie land playing Candy Crush Saga, which we both always play – I always beat him at it because he really sucks at it. The main problem with Gwen is that I help her out a lot, and she doesn't even realise it. I've helped her learn how to wear a printer on her head successfully, and although she isn't as good as me, she soon got it. I taught her how to write an autobiography, and although it really wasn't as interesting as mine, she wrote something. I should get an award for my work towards Family and Education. I don't understand why I don't get one, because a) she's my family and b) I'm educating her.

I remember the newspaper I read about five weeks ago, and Duncan and Courtney's story in the headlines and how stupid I thought it was because it wasn't clearly as important as the story on the back page about Chris McLean hosting a new show. Now thinking about it, it got quite a lot of publicity for such a story. I wonder how much publicity this one will get once they found about it. Just like that couple winning the lottery twice recently. I hold my own lottery and I always win, so I must be really lucky. Some people say I'm a bit biased, but I'm really not. I draw out the ticket that says Chris McLean on the back, and if that's bias, well, yeah, I guess I'm biased.

"You know where I think Duncan is? I think he's probably not in this country. It seems too suspicious to kidnap Duncan and not take him out of this country," I say to Gwen, who still has her head stuck in her locker. She turns and looks at me in general surprise and eyes me up and down.

"Are you being serious about that?"

"Yeah. They've probably kidnapped him and took him to the vampire land or something. Or he might be dead. I'm saying dead."

"I think you're on to something. Maybe he isn't in the city," she says, smiling at the thought. "We should leave the country. I don't know how or when, but he probably isn't here-" Gwen starts.

"No, I still think he's dead, 'cause if he went into vampire land he's probably dead."

She looks at me, "He's not in vampire land, idiot. And he's not dead. He's somewhere, but that place just isn't here."

**A/N - (This isn't counted as my word goal) Hi, this is my Camp NaNoWriMo project, and this, believe it or not, is the longest chapter I've ever written. I'm aiming for 30,000 words, so updates will occur, no breaks, every day. **


	3. Chapter 3 - Courtney's POV

**Courtney's P.O.V. – Chapter 3**

"What if he isn't looking for me? What if, Bridgette, he really, really hates me? Don't say he doesn't, Gwen, and don't look at me like that, Zoey. He might really, really hate me. And maybe that's why he's not with me, and maybe that's why he's away in some place that we can't find. Because Duncan just really, really hates my guts."

"I highly doubt he hates you," I hear a voice say as she throws her lunch tray down on the table and drags the chair out of the table, then throws herself into it. Heather. "I just think he has a very, very strong dislike for you."

"Like your boyfriend does, right? He doesn't look like he actually likes you, let's be perfectly honest," Gwen replies in my defense.

"Stop it! All of you. That's not the problem, Duncan being missing is the problem. We don't know here he is -" Bridgette starts.

"Chris bets he's in a foreign country, or far, far away from here. It sounds unlikely that they'd be able to get him there, but it sounds likely enough that they wouldn't just leave him be in the city," Gwen shouts. It's not something you'd want everyone to hear, but the wave of people and the chatter of their voices thunder all of our average voices and we have to shout to each other to be heard. Duncan's disappearance – although I'm starting to give up on him and his disappearance – is definitely something I wouldn't want to be talking about in the middle of school. Definitely not.

"So, you're suggesting he didn't leave me on purpose?" I ask, panicking, "Are you suggesting that Duncan really was kidnapped and really is in trouble?

"Uh, yeah. I am. It seems kinda obvious that he wouldn't just leave you like that. He's not the kind of dude that mysteriously disappears for a month to dump a girl. I think he'd probably go more…out there," Gwen says, raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe he really is in trouble, Courtney. I'm being serious, maybe he really was kidnapped and is really in danger," Zoey starts.

It's hard to come to terms with the idea that Duncan would be in danger of all people. He's always had the kind of attitude and look to him that he could knock you out with one punch. He's never been the type of person that was shy or frightened.

But then maybe he's not. Maybe he's not shy or frightened, and maybe he's just looking for a way to escape. Maybe he wants out of there quickly, and he's just waiting for the right moment, or maybe he's just waiting for help.

Duncan Rivers helped me when I was in trouble, and I bet he would do it again and again. I need to help him when he's in danger. But still – I don't know here on earth he actually is or where I can find him. If he is out of the country, he could anywhere in the world. If he's not, he's obviously well hidden or he keeps moving and it might take too long to find him.

An awkward and uncomfortable silence fills the air among the wave of people, as if something so shocking or abominable happened just then that everyone in the room was left absolutely speechless and breathless, completely lacking anything to say. But nothing had happened, it was just one of those times of days that everything falls silent and nothing fills the air. There were some whispers that could be heard crossing the room occasionally, and the forks banging against the cold, metal trays, but that was it.

"We need a plan, and we need to get one fast. We need to Get Duncan out of where ever he is and we need to get him out of there before the police start to become involved in the case. I don't want them knowing what really happened to Duncan," I murmur to Bridgette and Gwen, turning my head, looking to see if there was any cause of the silence.

None.

And then the whole room just burst into laughter and talk, everyone was instantly talkative, and the silence had gone. The time of day had gone.

* * *

"So, who are you going to involve in this 'plan' of yours?" Gwen said, notebook in hand, pencil tucked behind her ear trying to look professional. Geoff walked by and instantly yanked it and handed it to her, smiling.

"A pencil isn't very good behind your ear," he says, smiling, as she grabs it off him, scowling.

I smile at her angriness, "Everyone. Except Harold. Harold's too anti-Duncan to be involved. And I just don't want him to be involved. He'd probably give me some stupid answer that Duncan isn't actually located in our solar system or something."

"This plan is going to be awesome," Geoff laughs, snatching the pencil of Gwen and throwing it up in the air. "PARTY!"

"I don't have time to party," I immediately say, rather annoyed. Geoff should have at least done something. He should have been looking for Duncan. They are best friends after all. But this whole time he's just been partying full stop, not having a care in the world if Duncan is in danger or in a different continent or even dead. "You aren't even partly worried that Duncan could actually be seriously in trouble? _All you want to do is party_? What kind of friend are you if you don't even know or care about where he is?"

"Duncan's a tough dude. He'll be fine. You have to remember at the end of the day, Duncan is Duncan. Duncan is the criminal here. He can survive nearly anything," Geoff replies, but the tone of voice he uses makes it seem likes he's unsure. Unsure that Duncan is really that tough. Yeah, Duncan's supposed to be a criminal, but I'm not sure Duncan is all that he thinks he is.

Geoff nods once more before walking away, "Yeah. Duncan's a tough dude."


	4. Chapter 4 - Courtney's POV

**Courtney's POV – Chapter 4**

"And it costs absolutely nothing?" my mom says, her eyebrows rising. "They're just blowing all this cash?" She looks at the note in her hands, and reads through it again unsurely.

"Uh, yeah. They want to teach us about culture and you know, we're doing this really big project in Geography about Tanzania, so the school thought it would be nice if we were taken to some countries and continents to learn about the cultures," I stutter nervously, making it up as I go along.

"And you're going for four weeks?" she looks at me, with both her eyebrows covered by her brunette fringe. That's how much she's surprised. Now thinking about it, it really does seem highly unlikely that they'd fly us off to a lot of countries, free of charge for four weeks, including accommodation and food. I've got to thank McLame for this sometime in the future.

"Yes," I instantly say. "Yes. Four weeks on the dot." And then, as if I wasn't expecting it at all, she bursts into a crying fit, and she cries and cries for ages, hugging me.

"But that's nearly a whole month! I won't see you for a whole month! No…" she sniffles, in that kind of way that mothers do when their child has just grown up, or had their sixteenth birthday, or even, to go as far, are just about to have their first day at school. "I'm not sure if I could let you go…"

Of course. "Yea – I mean, yes, but you see I'll be learning about different cultures and important things I need to know for when I grow up." And just to make sure, I add in the classic, "And all my friends are going."

She looks surprised at this, "Really? Is Duncan going?"

I feel like I've just been slapped in the face. "Um, no, but, you see, uh, he's got to work with his um grandparents to um build them a house."

"Really? I wish you would do that for my parents. You never have built them a house. I wish you were more like Duncan, darling," my mom answers, putting down the note and picking up her newspaper as I try not to break out in laughter. It takes me a minute or two to recover, with her looking at me nervously.

"Can I go?" I ask, picking up the note, and looking at her.

"We'll see," she replies dully, reading the newspaper. "Oh, do you look at that! Chris McLean has got himself another award! What is this one for…oh! His work to Education! And it says…wow! He's been helping out at your school! Teaching Spanish, it says. I wonder if you've seen him about. Have you, Courtney?"

"No, I haven't seen him. But I'll keep a look out for him, if you want," I groan.

"Oh, yes. You don't see a star like him working for children every day," she laughs.

_Yeah_, I think, _you really don't see him every day._

* * *

I don't know exactly _how_ desperate I must have come off as being, but I worked every second to try and go on that trip. The thought of finding Duncan took over absolutely anything. He'd been gone for so long I was starting to forget how exactly he spoke, and that was starting to bother me. I'm pretty sure I probably would have built a house for my grandparents, because I was that desperate to come on this trip. I genuinely knew that my mom would come round to it sooner or later, because I'm smart like that, but just in case she was unsure, I kept helping her. I've worked for two days straight, and I'm just hoping she'll sign it today. I'm washing the dishes in the kitchen when she comes in. I never really liked the kitchen – it was painted this lemony yellow, which I never really liked that much because it had kept tearing off, and I was just waiting to be asked to paint it.

"I've decided," she started, looking at me and smiling, "that you can go on your school trip. But. You have to send me postcards every place you go, and I expect you to phone me occasionally." I'm not sure if she's expecting for me to jump on her and hug her and thank her for ages, and say she's the best, but I'm still kind of depressed that he hasn't turned up yet, and I never really feel like it. He was Duncan, and if Duncan was here, I would, but I just can't, because Duncan isn't here.

"Are you okay?" she asks, looking at me nervously. "Aren't you excited for this big trip?"

"Yeah. I am. I really am. It's just, um, one of my friend's moms isn't letting them go and I just feel bad for them," I say, nearly at the stage I'm questioning what I'm saying to myself.

"Oh. That's terrible, darling. Maybe I could telephone them and ask if they could go? Do you have their number?"

"Uh, no," I say stuttering. "But thanks for letting me go on the trip. I'll telephone you every three nights or so, and I'll send you some postcards."

There's an awkward silence between us as she signs the note – I can't be bothered to say anything, and I think she's lacking anything to say.

"You should invite Duncan over one of these days," my mom tells me as she hands the note over to me. "He's such a nice boy. And he's such a great influence on you too. He hasn't come over for such a long time I'm worrying he's missing!" She laughs at the top of her voice for this as I laugh shakily at her 'joke'.

"Yeah…nice joke. Missing, huh?" I say, muttering and stuttering, not managing to let the words come out.

"Of course not! Wouldn't it be difficult to go missing with police as parents, Courtney? And even if he managed to go missing, they'd be right on his case as quickly as lightning. They seem like such nice parents, I bet they wouldn't let a case that their son is involved in slip."

_Sometimes I wonder if my mom really does get the full picture of things._


	5. Chapter 5 - Lindsay's POV

**Chapter 5 – Lindsay's POV**

**Tyson keeps telling me, "Something's happening, uh," when Ridgette and Kourtney keep meeting up and they keep chatting about this dude called Muncan or something. I don't really hear what's going on that much because I and Beth are too busy chatting about what colour looks best on my nails. Beth says blue, but Tyson always tells me its red, and I think it's orange. **

**Apparently, King of Monkeys, Muncan, was kidnapped in a battle against the evil dark force of the Hairbrush Army a month ago, while he was kidnapped, Courtney was skipping away to the rollercoaster. At least, that's what I and Beth thought happened. We always tell Courtney that it's okay, the rollercoaster and the Hairbrush Army won't harm you, but she always looks at us as if we are crazy. **

**I wonder if she's okay.**

**We're supposed to go on this big trippy thingy to find the Monkey Peasants to help us find out where their King is, but apparently Tyson said he heard the others saying they doubt I'll make it past security in the airport. I wonder what that means.**

**My schedule has been very jam-packed recently. I had to re-arrange my whole nail polish closet because I got a new one and I didn't have enough space to fit it in, so I had to rearrange every single one, and I still didn't have room. I wonder why. **

**I also heard that there is this famous person in our school, and he's helping us. He taught me about grass once and called me a genius after class, and it was the first time I was ever told that, so I had to look the word up in this thing called a **_**dictionary**_**. After I looked it up, I looked up what dictionary actually meant and I wasn't too pleased. That's what we have Goggle for!**

**Anyway, I just hope we're able to go to Paris and eat at the Eiffel Tower. There's a lot of monkeys around the top of it, so it's obviously a key destination to go to, isn't it? I absolutely love monkeys. They've got such a good fashion sense and they always have the most amazing hairstyles known on Earth. I'm surprised they haven't been asked to model for anyone yet, because with a fashion sense like that, they could model for Chanel! **

**Tyson's also got this big sporty thingy coming up that he wants me to go to. I'm going to go to it to make sure he says that monkeys are awesome. Hey, maybe I'll even see a monkey there! Wouldn't that be awesome! I'll have to ask him what colour he thinks will go best on my nails for a sporting event, because I've never been to one. I goggled sporting event, and it said, 'About 1,030,000 results (0.30 seconds)'. So it must be a pretty short thing if it only takes 0.30 seconds. I'm very excited for it, because Beth's boyfriend is also competing and Beth is coming to support him too! **

**So, there's a lot happening in school, but there's a lot happening at home too. My mom claims I'm old enough to make the supper now, and I don't know how to cook, so she's making me read cook-books or something. I thought I was doing well, because I only burnt nine bits of bread so far, and the beans have only gone cold eight times, so I think I'm really improving on my skills. Maybe soon I'll be Ligella Nawson! Or whoever makes some cooking thingies. **

**Also, at home, my brother was away on vacation, so I remodelled his room. It used to be so boring, but now it's perfect. It has pastel pink walls and there are hundreds of teddies on the shelves that are so cute! **I've wanted to re-model his room for so long, but he always refuses to let me do it, but I'm sure that he'll be pleased. I even went and bought him a new teddy from my room! It was so hard, because I had to actually lift it across.

My mom keeps telling me to send these things called e-mails by using something called the internet when I arrive in different countries. I'm unsure if I could do it, because my brother claims you need an IQ of 1897 to send them, and my IQ only comes to 1896. I'm rather unsure of what IQ means but apparently it has something to do with arm-chairs and carpets.

I've also started to think about what nail polishes to bring to these 'places.' I've only picked the bare necessities – 92 nail polishes, 47 hairbrushes and 26 different conditioners. Beth said I should bring more, but I told her I would work with what I've got and that was all I could do. She said I was a living saint and with the amount I'm bringing I think I really am.

Tyson and I are planning to have our first date in about four years. We've decided to go to a pencil factory and see how people make pencils. I'm rather confused on what a pencil actually is, but once I figure out I bet it will be wonderful. I wonder if it has anything to do with Muncan?

I wonder what it would feel like if I lost Tyson. I really do feel bad for Kourtney, but I never really thought she would be the kind of person to fall in love with a monkey. But if she really does like this monkey, and really is going to travel the world finding Muncan, I wish her good luck. If Tyson went missing I would probably find him in seconds. I'd first look in his favourite place which is…um…the beach? Oh. Yes! It was the nail salon with me on Saturday. He really loved it. He kept saying it was the best time of his life. We painted his nails pink and purple. Thinking about it, we'll have to get another layer on before his big sporting event.

So I'm getting ready to go away on this big trippy thingy for 8 years. Hey maybe if I'm lucky I'll see grass for the first time in my life! Anyway, I'm all ready to go. We're planning to leave in three days. Tyson's event is in two, so I must go to the nail salon tomorrow to get eight layers smothered on. I don't want to have to go through the 'air-port' with bare nails. Tyson is coming on the trip too, so at least I'll have some 'com-pan-y'.

I hope Kourtney finds Muncan, King of Monkeys.

Wait…was his name Duncan?

A/N – If this chapter did not make sense to you, you are fit and healthy. If this chapter did make sense to you please visit your doctor for advice. Also, I'm sorry I didn't update in so long, it's just been a VERY busy week, which was out of the blue completely.


	6. Chapter 6 - Courtney's POV

"Are you okay, Court?" Bridgette asked, raising an eyebrow. The old tires of the bus were making our ride to the airport absolutely miserable. The bus itself wasn't much better – it had been jolting about for half an hour, tossing everyone on it about – back and forth, up and down, right and left. My mind was so absorbed I didn't even hear the question – I was trying to remember Duncan's voice and hearing other people's voices tended to make me think of completely different voices. I didn't want their voices, I wanted his voice. Nevertheless, I hadn't got it.

"Courtney? Are you okay?" Bridgette repeats impatiently. My mind lickers back to reality.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I insist grumpily. I see Gwen glare at me momentarily and abruptly bursts into laughter. I know that she knows I am not fine and I won't be fine until I find Duncan.

"Uh-huh, Bridgette, Courtney is absolutely fine. It's not like her boyfriend is missing or anything," Heather claims sarcastically as she walks up the aisle, laughing. I don't say anything – after a while Heather's sarcasm wears off. Bridgette glares at her evilly as if to tell her to back off.

"Hey, lighten up. I was just saying Courtney was fine," Heather's grin quickly spreading over her face.

I used to think Duncan was the worst of all of us, but it's quickly becoming Heather now thinking about it. It's hard to consider that I actually used to think Duncan was the worst of us. Duncan is probably the best one of us. Better than me for sure.

"Next stop – some random airport!" Chris thunders down the bus as several people cheer at the thought of going to some mysterious airport. Honestly, sometimes I think Chris is just out of his mind. I wonder if he really should be actually considered an adult.

The bus pulls to a halt, jolting us back and making us hit the cold backs of the seats. I hear Chris say something to the driver about a first class drive or an awesome experience and I slip out of my seat, rolling my eyes.

It's a pretty bad day, but I guess that it is coming to winter. Winter is my least favorite season of the entire year – you never can get anything done. You have to spend most of your time sitting by a fire, just waiting for all your bills to go up as you've used so much heating. Winter – definitely my least favorite season.

"I hate airports," Gwen complains lousily. "Passport Control, Baggage Check, Check In…ugh."

"It's for the safety of our country," DJ points out in that kind of good-Samaritan tone that really annoyed Duncan.

"Well, I really can't be bothered. And couldn't we just let them see our passport and if we look suspicious take us away for questioning or something?" Gwen replies, not really in a good mood.

I was waiting for an answer from Harold, but then I remembered that he wasn't actually here. Except from the fact that Duncan is still missing, the trip is starting to look pretty good.

* * *

Eight minutes in, Gwen is starting to say she's really tired, four of us claim we are about to collapse, and the rest of us that manage to stand are either pushing the people who collapsed in luggage trolleys or we're looking at them as if a drop of rain could kill them.

This is going to be one long ride.

The airport is packed full, and I'm rather angry that Chris has picked the busiest airport to be our random airport. It doesn't help that Chris is wearing a cardboard box on his head and is running around the check-in desk trying to ask the check-in lady on a date to the café next to the desk. Except from being partly annoyed that she hasn't seen his face, she seems to like him, which takes the people that are managing to stand up by utter surprise.

We're barely twelve minutes in and I've already lost all hope of actually finding Duncan. This is probably a pretty bad sign.

I wonder what Duncan would be doing. He'd probably have collapsed along with Geoff and everyone except me, DJ, Chris and Bridgette. And then I would have probably shouted at him for not being able to stand up for twelve minutes and we would have got in a massive fight. It's rather weird how much I actually miss him. He was a criminal, he was a punk, he was a complete Neanderthal, but he was mine. There was no sensation on who he was or what we would be, the idea of him being mine was the only thing I could have asked for.

And he was mine.

I'm not sure if it's the same feeling as losing your phone in your cluttered room and trying to find it without having to tidy it. I want to tidy it, I want to fix this mess and I have this feeling that I never really lost him, he's just trying to be found more than he already was.

As I stand at the gate just before we board, Chris Mclean running around recklessly, I wonder what this would have felt like half a year ago. I would have so desperately tried to fix this mess by shouting at everyone and just being annoyed.

I still would, I guess, but I really don't have time to do that.

If someone had told me I would be desperate to find Duncan and would go to such lengths as to travel the world to do it, I would have merely laughed. But right now? I can't laugh. If it's possible, it's nearly all too real.

Like a bad nightmare you don't want to wake up from because you just hope that in time it will turn good. You keep hanging on because you think for a moment you just might -

But then you realise they're called nightmares for a reason. That you won't find him.

* * *

**A/N – I don't really know what I was really writing. It just felt like I should write it. The next chapter will be funny. Chris McLean in ECONOMY class. **

**This won't go down too well. **


	7. Chapter 7 - Chris McLean POV

**Chapter 7 – Chris McLean's POV**

**Planes. For me, a plane means one thing – champagne. A cheese board. Big chairs. A pretty air hostess. I slowly board the plane, waiting to see 'economy' class. Rats. Mice. Beggars sitting in the chairs shaking a cup. I can picture it looking just like a sewer. Most of the kids seem to have been in this 'economy' class. But I understand – people just can't afford the things Chris McLean can. **

**It's worse than I thought. **

**People sit in their squashed looking seats, smiling, reading that free magazine you get on most planes that isn't really worth reading. They smile at each other and talk to their relatives. They wear average clothing – no big brands. They're smiling, but I know they are just being strong. I grasp a man's wrist as I pass by and tell him quietly, "It's okay. You can cry if you want to."**

**His face instantly shrivels up as he looks at me in that way that says 'uh – what?' but he can obviously tell I'm first class material so he just smiles. **

**What a brave man. I respect him completely. **

**I pass a young child, only a toddler and he seems to be crying. I give him $50 and tell him he's the bravest boy to confess his emotions at such an early age. His mother just yanks the $50 off him and holds it up to the light. I take my shoe off, carefully and whack her on the head with it. She seems to be angry. **

"**GIVE HIM BACK HIS MONEY!" I thunder, as the woman, obviously frightened, gives him back his money. I smile at her, put my shoe back on and walk on. Courtney, already in her seat, seems to face palm herself in an instant and 'face-palms' herself. I hear Gwen mutter something about being a long journey. **

**When we are all in our seats, which takes ages, an ugly looking air hostess starts handing us out 'hot' towels. They must not be right, because mine is pretty cold. In anger, I throw the towel at her face and shout at her to warm it up. She smiles, and yanks it off me and walks back. Courtney seems pretty annoyed and starts yelling at me in anger. **

**See, if I was in first class, this incident wouldn't have actually happened in the first place. **

**Then we start to be handed out pretzels and peanuts. I happily accept a bag of peanuts to find out that they are actually 'salted' and not 'lightly salted' like they do in first class. I throw them at a random passenger and start screaming at him. Then an air hostess comes and tells me to come and calm down because I'm upsetting the cabin crew. I tell her that she's not very pretty and she should be moved down to third class, until I'm reminded by Courtney that they don't have third class in planes. Then I complain to her that most of these people are peasants and can barely afford to eat two meals, and then the passengers start looking at me as if I'm crazy. **

**As I wait patiently for the meal at lunch, I think of what it could be. My favourite dish is first class was boiled lobster –**

"**Spaghetti with no sauce or sauce?" the air hostess speaks in complete monotone. **

"**Hm," I reply, flicking through the magazine quickly for a menu, "what else is there?"**

"**A bread roll," she says smiling. **

"**You know what, I'll just take the bread rolle," I say, trying to pronounce it properly. **

"**Um, yes sir," the air hostess smiles, and hands me this small roll. Made of bread. I look at her in my disgraced look. **

"**Surely this cannot be Rolle Bread!" I shout in a French accent angrily. **

"**It is, sir. It is a roll, made of bread. A bread roll, sir," she says, looking puzzled. I give it to the dude beside me in a red tracksuit in an instance as I feel disgraced by the lack of selection. **

**I expect some kind of fancy dessert, but there is none being given out. Like the rest of economy class I smile and laugh, but secretly I loathe them, like these beggars loathe each other as they check through each other's wallets. **

**About half an hour later, I hear that the plane is just about to land. I'm rather proud that this trip is over, because **I couldn't bear a single minute more of this disgusting 'economy' class. I wonder how these people survive the trip. As soon as it is over, I rush off the plane, pushing the kids behind me.

I never want to fly economy again.

"Chris, are you okay?" Courtney asks raising an eyebrow as I storm off the plane full speed.

"YES!" I scream angrily, which probably makes me sound more angry than happy. I miss my boiled lobster, I miss the cheese board, and I miss the champagne.

As soon as we collect our baggage from baggage claim, I ask if I can get another flight in economy class.

"Um, why? You hated it," Courtney points out to me, trying to pull up a dude who is lying on the baggage trolley crying and saying that he's about to die or something.

"I WANT ANOTHER FLIGHT!" I thunder, and reluctantly she agrees.

The thing about Chris McLean is Chris McLean always gets his way. NO MATTER WHAT. That's why I'm so talented and I've been on so many TV shows, because if they don't, they'll pay. I text one of my rival TV show hosts, Blaineley to tell her how lucky I am.

**HAR HAR. I'M ON BIG TRIP WITH KIDZ. **

She'll be well-jel.

A/N – Okay, this was just a really random chapter. If anyone doesn't know, well-jel is another way of saying 'well jealous'. Now Chris is kinda crazy and here might be a few chapters like this to come. I'm warning you.


	8. Chapter 8 - Courtney's POV

**Courtney's POV – Chapter 8**

Hope is a strange thing. One minute you can have hope, and one minute it's not there. It's like there's a switch that turns it off in your brain whenever it doesn't seem right. Faith is the same – it appears and disappears whenever it suits to.

I always had faith that I could find Duncan, but the switch seems to have been turned off. I'm with a pack of complete maniacs. We had landed in Los Angeles a few hours ago, before McLame demanded that we take another flight to some random place and fly back to LA, which made absolutely no logical sense, but he's Chris McLean after all. You'd have to be an idiot to expect anything logical from him. As I walk slowly, looking down, I see the clear, white shine of the floors of the airport. Fresh. Nice. _Welcoming_.

"I'm tired…this is so boring…" Geoff complains. "Why can't Duncan just have been in kidnapped on a farm?" I feel like slapping him. Duncan is his friend as much as he is my boyfriend, and second, the whole farm thingy makes absolutely no sense.

"Oh, yeah, if Duncan was captured on a farm we _wouldn't _have to look for him," Gwen comments sarcastically.

"He'll be fine," Geoff says calmly, "it can't be too bad. They'll only literally do the same thing they did to Courtney, right? So it can't be too bad."

I wish he had really not said that because that makes me feel even worse about the whole situation. I don't really like thinking about what happened to me, but it's something I really don't want Duncan to go through ever.

"I think we should all be happy that Duncan probably isn't dead yet," Trent says optimistically, which, let's admit, doesn't really make anybody feel better. He could be dead, and there is a possibility he's dead. But I don't want to think about that. Sometimes Trent's general optimism in every single bad situation we go through annoys me. I know it annoys Gwen too, but she'll never admit it.

Chris comes out of a random duty free, with two bags, stapled together. "Alcohol!" he shouts happily. He then holds the two bags up high and drops them from the ground. The glass of the bottles shatter to the ground, as Lindsay runs away screaming that a bomb has just hit her and someone must save her. Rolling my eyes, I walk on. Chris has to spend half an hour cleaning the alcohol up and Lindsay was interviewed by customs, and by the time we're out of the airport, it's hitting ten p.m. We get a taxi to our hotel, and luckily enough there's a payphone outside of it. We spend the next hour talking to our relatives, and Lindsay's conversation goes a bit like this…

"Hi Dog. I'm fine. I'm in Texas. And I'm gonna eat cream pie."

Then she just hangs up and walks off as content as a content Lindsay. Most of the others conversations are long and boring, and mostly just telling their parents that they are safe and okay. Chris phones his mom, who's deaf, and he said it was a pretty good conversation with her and he told her some interesting things. For some reason, I highly doubt that.

I think the world is losing its sanity. Not that it had much anyway.

I know we probably won't find him here. It's not like we'll find him first time. But I'm going to keep looking and keep looking until I find him. He did the same thing for me, and it's about time I re-paid him for that.

Part of em tells me that he's Duncan and he should be able to look after himself because he's been doing it for years and years now, and another part says to me that he acts tough, and he's constantly fighting with himself, and he isn't really that strong. That's why I don't want to leave Duncan. In case the second option is true. When it's my turn to talk on the payphone, I insert a dollar and type my mom's number in carefully.

"Hi mom. It's Courtney," I say down the phone, sighing.

"OH! How is it? Where are you? What have you done? I've got some bad news."

"Um…it's fine. I'm in Los Angeles, and we've literally been in the airport all day," I mutter. I wonder what the bad news could actually be. "Um, what's the bad news?"

"I know he was a good friend of yours, Courtney, but Duncan, you know the son of Mr and Mrs Rivers? Well he's gone missing and no one knows where he is. They say they've got a big case but straight after they're going to go on the case to find their son. I'm sorry. I know he was a friend of yours."

I can't help but laugh. I've been looking for Duncan for weeks now and he's been missing for more than a month – it's rather funny how they only notice that their son is missing a month after I did.

"Oh…that's pretty bad. I feel bad for them. To lose a son like that. Does anybody have any idea where he is or what happened?" I pray that no one actually knows what I and Duncan did that night. First off, that would mean I'm a criminal, and second off, I've got to many plans for the future to be a criminal.

"No. No idea at all. His parents think he must have been kidnapped in his room. Poor kid. Keep a look out for him, won't you? Make sure he's not in any of the countries you are?"

"Sure, mom. Anyway, I've got to go. I'll call you sometime in the next two days. Say to Mr and Mrs Rivers I hope they find their son," I say quickly and hang up. I slouch against one of the walls in the phone box and put my head in my hands.

This is all too real.


	9. Chapter 9 - Courtney's POV

Chapter 9 – Courtney's POV

I hadn't got a decent sleep for a while since Duncan went missing, and this night wasn't an exception. I spent the whole night tossing and turning recklessly in the hotel bed. I never liked hotel beds in the first place, but I usually liked falling asleep knowing everything was in its place and since Duncan hadn't been here, things were never in its place. It was also slightly a problem that I didn't really like the evening that much, because of the Duncan incident, and typically speaking, I was more of a morning person anyway.

When I stare at the clock on the bottom left hand corner of the TV screen, it reads 07:23. No one else is awake except Gwen and I, and we're not talking. We're just staring at the clock in silence. The thing about holidays is that no matter what, when you wake up before everyone else, you don't know what to do, while if you were at home you would know exactly what to do. I think that's the whole idea of being in a foreign country you aren't aware of – the cluelessness and the amount of times you are confused about what to do and how to do it.

"Did you sleep well?" Gwen whispers to me, making sure not to wake anybody up. Only certain people would actually bother to get up at 7:23 anyway.

"No. I slept terribly," I say honestly. "I have no clue where he is or what is actually happening to him. That scares me."

"Yeah," she agrees mildly, not really knowing what else to say. There's an awkward silence between us both for a moment, not really knowing what to actually say.

"Do you like Duncan?" I ask as it slips out of my mouth by accident. I immediately regret saying it.

"As a friend, yeah, but not like-like," she stutters. She could either be lying or just surprised at the question. "Why would you think that?"

"No reason. I was just asking," I try to smile, but it looks more sombre than happy. Gwen eyes at me suspiciously, but then shrugs it off. I was starting to panic that she was actually going to take me seriously for a second.

It's not that I think Gwen would dump Trent and go and date Duncan, but Gwen and Trent don't really match in my eyes. But then again, I guess I and Duncan don't match in theirs either.

"Do you like Trent?" she asks, and I look at her as if to say that I don't really find it that funny. I'm pretty close to hating Trent. His optimism annoys me to the point I want to get my ears chopped off, but I know better than to get my ears chopped off.

We sit in silence for the rest of the time, staring pointlessly at the time slowly tick, as the green light slowly pains my eyes. I just want to see Duncan. That's all I want.

The sad thing with life is, you rarely ever get what you really want.

"Hm. This is an insanely difficult map to read."

Chris had been making stupid comments like this for over an hour. He had bought an RV for the trip, and while everyone was enjoying this luxury RV, I had spent the last hour of my life telling him which way to drive, and how to read maps.

As I look around the RV, it is a pretty nice RV. I thought Chris would rent a rackety old bus for us and a perfect luxury RV for himself, but he seems to be in a decent mood.

"It's not that hard," I reply flatly.

"Yes it is," he complains angrily, tuning it upside down again and staring at it hard for a few seconds.

"No, it really isn't," I mutter at him, looking away from him. Chris was off the stupidity radar by miles. I was starting to think he had no brain at all, because even a seven year old would have been able to read this map. And, although I didn't know his age, I was 100% sure he was more than seven years old.

"Do you want to find Duncan?" Chris asks, seriously. I'm taken by surprise that he would ask something like this honestly. It's not like Chris to actually care about somewhere. It's definitely not like Chris to be able to say something in a serious tone. This seems like a weird question.

Or, if you look at this considering what we've been through, this just seems like a stupid question.

"Yes," I say, swallowing down anything else I would want to say about Duncan. If I could I would blabber on and on about how much I want to find Duncan, but I just don't know if I should.

"Well then find him," he says simply, as if it is the most plain and normal thing in the world. I raise my eyebrow disapprovingly before saying, "But I can't."

Chris sniggers at this and laughs a bit, as if what I said was the funniest thing in the world. I don't laugh at all, because anybody should know that it is not one bit funny.

"You ever tried finding a needle in a haystack?"

I shake my head.

"Well, once I tried doing it. It took me seconds. You know why?"

I shake my head again. It shouldn't take a person seconds to find a needle in a haystack. It's a hard thing to do, and that's why it's compared to finding things in the 21st century. Because it was _hard_.

"Well it's rather obvious. The needle stands out from the hay. It should be easy to find a silver thing in a collection of yellow hay. Yes, it is small, but if you really concentrated on the colours, the needle would stand out."

"What does this have to do with Duncan?" I comment angrily, getting rather annoyed that the whole subject has shifted to needles and hay.

"I'm just saying. A needle in a haystack is like Duncan in a crowd of people. He is a delinquent. He can easily be told apart from the rest."


	10. Chapter 10 - Courtney's POV

**Courtney's POV – Chapter 10**

Despite Chris being a total idiot, he was right when he said that Duncan was like a needle in a haystack. But three days searching for that needle, and we've had no luck.

We've been travelling for quite a while around the states. It's the only place they could have probably got to – I looked it up on the websites of all the airports in Canada, and most of them were closed for a bank holiday. Why an airport would be closed for a bank holiday I don't know, but there was no flights going out to anywhere but Los Angeles, and I highly doubt that they would have been able to afford two flights. They have to be somewhere in the states. Where? I don't know.

We've narrowed it down to the fact that they probably aren't in the city. If they were, they'd just be insanely stupid. If they aren't in the city, then they are insanely stupid to think we'd overlook their stupidity. Chris keeps saying we're probably getting pretty close to finding him. I keep feeling like we're getting further away though. But I think it's almost become nature to disagree with Chris McLame. I think it's becoming second nature for all of us, really. Even Gwen.

I think Gwen and Duncan have something going on. It's weird, but I really think they like each other. I haven't said much to her about it, but I'm pretty sure that Gwen would break up with Trent to date Duncan. It's not like she does currently like Trent that much anyway currently. His optimism doesn't really fit with the whole situation.

They've been fighting quite a lot. I'd usually be screaming my head off at Duncan, but he isn't here, and I heard Heather say it's a rather nice replacement anyway. I was rather annoyed at this, because that's my job – it's my job to shout at Duncan and it's his job to come up with some witty remark that really annoys me. I just hope this whole thing blows over before Duncan gets back, because it wouldn't help to have two couples constantly arguing. Three, if you count Heather and Alejandro. The only ones that seem to be decent are Geoff and Bridgette because they can't stand a second without each other, and Lindsay and Tyler, who are just too dumb to even understand what love actually is or what breaking up actually means. Which I guess, makes things a lot easier.

My eyes glance over the crowds as Chris drives through a town that I have never heard of, which comes as a surprise. I know most cities and towns in most of the states. Nothing stands out – all meaningless people to me, walking to try and do whatever they do every day of their lives, just the same old boring routine. That's what I like about Duncan. He isn't just the same old boring routine every single day. He was constantly different no matter what. I correct myself – he is constantly different no matter what.

"WE DON'T _WANT_ YOUR OPTIMISM. WE NEVER DID. IT'S LIKE BEING AN OPTIMIST AT A_ FUNERAL_. IT'S JUST _WEIRD_," I hear Gwen scream at Trent, pacing through the RV with Trent behind her.

"Hey, I was just trying to help the situation. Duncan was missing, I thought we could do with cheering up," he says, smiling.

"Ugh, you just don't get it. He's in trouble. We can't keep thinking positive. We've got to think negative," she replies shaking her head.

The thing I find now with the whole journey is just like the Schrödinger's cat thing. We don't know if Duncan is in trouble, or if he isn't, and until we find him, we won't know at all. It's like Schrödinger's cat, we won't know if it is either dead or alive until we find out. My worst problem is finding out and finding out that it's the worst thing.

"But thinking negative isn't good," he points out, getting a little annoyed, but you can't really tell, because it's Trent. He's nearly over optimistic about everything.

Its early morning, and you can easily tell by Gwen's mood that she isn't really a morning person. I didn't expect her to be a morning person anyway, because only Trent and I are actually morning people. Trent's happy every second of the day anyway, while I particularly like mornings. It's peaceful. It's quiet, and it's calm. This whole atmosphere is kind of wrecking that.

"SHUT UP! A MAN IS TRYING TO READ MAPS!" Chris screams groggily at them both. It takes Trent by surprise and he sighs at Gwen and Chris and mutters under his breath, "Like uncle, like niece."

Gwen seems angry at him for saying this, because even I know she hates the idea of being related to Chris, and she hates even more that there are several similarities between them. If she didn't have highlights in her hair, their hair would be the same colour, and I've seen Gwen's mother and she does look like Chris. I do feel bad for her – if I was related to Chris I would just curl myself up in a ball and hope that either he or I die in the next five minutes.

"We've got to go out of cities, and more in to desolate towns and villages. Places they would go," Alejandro comments, as he sits down on the sofa behind the driver's seat. "Driving through cities and cities is not going to help us find Duncan, amigo."

"It will pay off if you just give it a chance," Chris replies angrily. "And it's not like I have to listen to you. You're fourteen – just another kid from Spain. You're from Spain right? Or was it France? Germany?"

"Spain," Alejandro mutters, gritting his teeth. I look out the window as Chris exits the large city, and before I know it, I'm fast asleep, my dreams absorbed in Duncan and how he is.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11 – Courtney's POV**

_Empty_. That's the first word that would come to anyone's mind if they were asked to describe the fields and fields, miles away from the distant towns. _Desolate_. That would be the second, probably the worst to think about, and the best to say. _Pointless._ That would be the third, and that would be the best. It was absolutely pointless. People argue for land these days when miles out, there is a lot of it. An awful lot of it.

We trudge through the field as Heather complains about the whole situation for the thousandth time on the trip. Gwen tells her that she never had to actually come, and a whole argument breaks out in a matter of minutes. We're all pretty tired that no one except Heather and Gwen really notice it's going on, but we just stay quiet, looking for any village or sign that someone might have camped here. But there isn't any, and I can feel that I'm giving up more and more as the days go by. I'm not finding Duncan at all. But I keep telling myself the answer that other people keep telling me – 'he just isn't here'.

"Muncan will be here," Lindsay says, reassuringly and smiling. I feel like trudging right back to the RV right now because anything that Lindsay says is true is obviously not true. She's not very intelligent. Not to be offensive or anything, she's got a brain the size of a pea. And not a large pea.

But I politely smile back and say, "I hope so, Lindsay."

"We're marching through some fields, I don't know really where, LA LA!" Chris sings, skipping about happily. "Come on, join in guys!"

You know when you are asked to do something, and you really can't be bothered to do it? And you really can't be bothered to do it because it's pointless, and when you actually do it there's absolutely no enthusiasm?

That's what I feel right now, as I angrily push myself forward tiredly. I wish we could just find him, because I can't stand another week of this.

"That's wood," Lindsay comments proudly, pointing to the ground.

"Uh-huh," I agree simply, looking at her. "It's wood."

"It's burnt wood," she points out. "The wood has been burnt."

"Yes. _Burnt wood_," Gwen agrees slowly.

"Someone has been here," she finishes proudly.

I always thought of Lindsay as the dumbest of all of us. She's always failed every class, and she's never passed any test I know of. But here we are, _her_ of all people having figured this out before anyone else. I feel rather jealous.

"Lindsay," I start, unsurely, "I think you might have just found something important."

* * *

"If you are going through hell, keep going."

\- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

* * *

"So they've been here," Bridgette says, shaking her head. "How do we know? It could have been anyone."

"DUNCN was carved on the back of the wood," Geoff laughed, "so it must be. They must also be pretty bad spellers."

"They couldn't have got far. They must be around these parts. It's so desolate that it's actually possible. They've really thought this through," Trent chips in. I feel like we've found Duncan, although we haven't. But we're closer. We will find Duncan, I just know it now.

"So we're close," Gwen says breathlessly. "We've nearly found him."

"Nearly," I reply. "But not quite. They could be miles away by now. And we don't know what direction they went in. So except from the fact they're in this area, we've no idea."

"Water. They must be near some kinda water source. They couldn't have brought enough water to survive for a month, so they must be near some kind of water source. And it hasn't rained for ages, so they can't get water from that."

"Food?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"They could have bought enough food to last them for a month. But water would evaporate in this heat. So they must be near a lake or pond if we can find one."

"Do you really think you could find a water source here? It's far too empty," Alejandro dully points out. "And as you said, water would evaporate. They must need to be near a pretty large water source to survive."

I sigh, and look around. Except from a few pieces of wood there's no proof they were actually here. They could have just put them here to confuse us. And there are no signs that water could be nearby – the trees that surrounded the place were old and withered, there were no plants about and there was absolutely no wildlife like birds or bugs around. The place really is absolutely desolate.

It feels like Duncan's near, but in my heart I feel like he's far, far away. I feel like he's okay, but in my heart I keep thinking he's not.

The thing about Duncan is he tries to be the hero so much that he doesn't even know when he's in trouble that often. He keeps thinking he's fine and everything's okay when everything is really bad, because he doesn't want help from anybody. He just wants to be left alone, he just wants to figure everything out for himself, and he doesn't care what other people think.

He's trying to figure out this situation by himself, but he's failing. He doesn't want help, but he knows he needs it.

When I first saw the letters DUNCN on the burnt wood, I knew instantly what happened. DUNCN was in his handwriting, it was him, signalling that he needed help. There was a small cross on the wood, which was a signal that meant that he didn't want help, but he knew he needed it. Duncan was finally admitting he couldn't do things by himself anymore.

I pick up the wood one last time as we all start to march back to the RV. I can imagine him writing this. I can imagine him saying this. I can imagine his plea for help.

I drop it and run to catch up with the others.

* * *

**A/N – Okay, I did a one-shot that I know I shouldn't count as my word count goal, but sadly is. It's called Maybe One Day, and it's just really two letters from Courtney to Duncan about what they were, the first in April about the relationship (as Cody's birthday is on April 1****st****, they would've broke up sometime in March, and you kinda get the idea…) and the second in December about how she is forgetting him. So read it if you want. **

**I'm not really sure this will finish, but I'm gonna say I lowered it down to 25,000 words. I wasn't planning to do this, but as the days got closer I do realise I had to do it, and so I've done it. But I will continue this story after April if it is unfinished. **

**If it's finished, the Final Straw will be continued, as this is the last book in the Forgive and Forget series (or I think it is…). There might be another sometime in December, as I joined FanFiction then and Forgive and Forget was the first thing I wrote, so I might hit something like that for my one year anniversary. **

**But back to the point, Final Straw will be continued because I liked writing it. And I started Chapter 2 already, so I can't avoid not writing it. This is kinda one of those books I'm finding out that I really have difficulty writing, and Final Straw was more natural for me. **

**Also, this has already got more views than We'll Go Somewhere, but less reviews. So view and review if you want to.**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12 – Duncan's POV

I never thought I'd be the one needing help from _Princess_. Fine if it was the other way around, but it isn't which makes the whole situation a lot worse than it probably should be in the first place. It's _Courtney_. The stuck-up C.I.T. girl that has been in my class for years.

I scribbled my name on some wood that they burnt a few days ago to signal for help, but I'm not sure it will get very far. The wood seemed too burnt to be able to read my handwriting, but I still did it, because it was all I could literally do. I honestly don' think they'll notice it. That is, if they are looking for me anyway. They couldn't find me, probably.

It's absolutely burning around here. There's not enough water, so we'll have to move out soon enough. I've heard them talking about trying to fluke it in a big city near here, but I think they know themselves they won't make it very far. Odds are they'll be caught if they do, and odds are we'll die of lack of water pretty soon if they don't see sense and actually go and get some from the city near here. But they seem like total idiots, and probably don't want to take the chances of being caught.

I've no idea where Courtney is and that's weirdly starting to bother me a bit. Usually she'd be in like…a library or some place, but um…I'm _missing_. I hope at least someone likes me at least a bit to go and look for me. I feel terrible that I actually want help, because I'm not really someone to ask for help**.**

**A/N - (Update, note after NaNoWriMo completed) Something went wrong with this chapter, and I never really knew what. **


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13 – Courtney's POV**

**Do you know when you're just about to do something, like a race or a competition? And there's this small moment before that you really just don't want to do it because you feel sick or you think you can't do it, and then when you get in the race you're perfectly fine? It's the waiting that is the sickening part. The waiting is always the worst part of everything. **

**I'd always been pretty patient, but I just wanted to hurry up and find Duncan quick. I was too tired of waiting to find him that I was starting to feel pretty bad. No, that's wrong. I was starting to feel really bad. Knowing Duncan, I bet he was getting pretty impatient with me not finding him by now. But then again, knowing the size of his brain, he'd probably doubt I'd be out looking for him anyway. **

**My eyes scan the area that we searched yesterday, hoping that we'll find something we didn't see yesterday. There's an odd silence – a serious silence – until Chris finds the need to interrupt with something so perfectly insane that it really doesn't make sense.**

"**Aweeslkwoqkla," he says, happily, skipping around, and then falling flat on his face. We all stare at him as if he is insane, until Lindsay seems to understand him. **

"**Lokygken esdsd!" she screams at the top of her voice, and follows Chris by falling flat on her face too, wrecking the whole idea of searching for Duncan in a few seconds. I sigh angrily, pull her back up and start shouting at Chris.**

"**We are trying," I say, gritting my teeth and biting my tongue, "to look for someone. The least you could possibly do is actually help us. He's been missing for more than a month. Doesn't that bother you at all?"**

**Chris shrugs and smiles, "I didn't really know him. I read about him in all the papers, but I couldn't really be bothered to do the background check, if you get what I'm saying. I probably should have, because he's a criminal, but the guy who did my background checks was off-duty that day and I didn't really get to do one…"**

**I feel like screaming my head off when Geoff interrupts, "You probably should have. He's got a pretty impressive criminal record for a thirteen year old. And I **_**mean**_** impressive. He's got caught, like one hundred times, but he never admits it."**

**I wish someone would catch him now. That would save a lot of trouble. **

"**I know you just want to find him and get it done with. I get that. But you keep panicking over the idea that he'll keep moving. He's not going to. We're close. We're literally on the verge of finding Duncan. So stop panicking and just relax. He's fine. He's a lone wolf. And sometime you have to realise that he can handle himself pretty well. He's always been okay on his own, just like you have. **

**You keep thinking that you absolutely forgot Duncan when he went missing. I'm not sure you realise you're trying to find him out of desperation that you hurt him, that you did this. But you didn't. Duncan was never gone. He's never gone. Because he's always in your mind. That idiotic punk is always in your mind."**

**I relax a small bit. I don't really want to, because I don't honestly think Chris is particularly sane and I rarely follow the advice of the insane. But this time he was partly right. I was so caught up in finding Duncan that it just made me panic more when we were so close. And Duncan will be fine on his own. It's Duncan, the punk. Duncan, the criminal. Duncan, the complete Neanderthal. Duncan, the idiot. He'd be fine. He was always fine, right? But then the wood puzzled me. **

**Duncan had obviously put his name on the wood as some sort of signal for help. He must have, because it didn't make sense that he would just randomly carve his name into wood. So he must want help.**

**There was a call recently saying that a nearby police service in my city had started a search for him, but I think they're still looking around the city. It would take too long for them to come here if anything did happen suddenly. The idea of leaving Duncan alone suddenly vanished. Yes, he was Duncan, but he was kidnapped by a bunch of criminals and punks older than him. He probably couldn't stand a chance, no matter what his criminal record looked like. (I'm really going to have to work on that with him…he should really stop keeping the money for himself and invest it in a business or something…). **

**We were stranded. We had no idea where we were, but all we knew was that Duncan was close buy. All we knew was that we needed to find him. It is not Duncan, the punk. Duncan, the criminal. Duncan, the complete Neanderthal. Duncan, the idiot.**

**It is Duncan, the boy who wanted help. Duncan, the boy who acted tough to look cool. It was Duncan, the **_**boy**_**. He had written his name on the wood because he realised he needed help, and he didn't have a chance by himself. **

**Maybe Duncan is never gone. Maybe Duncan lives in my brain and he is all I think about. But I know that I should keep continuing until I find him. He was there for me when I needed him most, and I have to be there for him. I have to be there for the Neanderthal criminal. Despite everything, I have to be there for him, I have to be supporting him. **

"**We need to move faster," I mutter quickly to the others. **

"**Why? He's fine," Gwen reassures me, her pace still relaxed and not panicked. **

**Then there's silence. It's awkward, like there's nothing left to say, not the peaceful kind of silence.**

**Then there's an overpowering scream that runs through everybody's ears. **


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14 – Gwen's POV**

**I immediately know it is Duncan. He had screamed a few times before, and the pitch in his voice and the aggression sounded right for this situation. I'm hoping that Courtney won't notice – the scream seemed to be pretty close, and you probably wouldn't be able to stoop her if she decided to run towards the scream. Her eyes light up in a few seconds after the scream, and I quickly grasp her shoulder to try and stop her. She tries to swat it off, but I grasped her shoulder tight enough so it wouldn't come off easily. **

"**That's him, Gwen. I just know it," she says in awe, trying to swat my hand off her shoulder again. **

"**It wasn't him, Courtney," I lie to her quickly. "It sounded nothing like him. Duncan has a lower pitch in his voice, remember? I think you might be forgetting him."**

**She looks pretty angry at this, because I generally know she keeps panicking about forgetting Duncan. "No," she replies, although there's a part of her voice that sounds as if she's unsure about it. "That was him. I know his voice, and that was it."**

"**You're forgetting his voice, Courtney," I laugh, trying not to look desperate. She'd just get herself in trouble if she went ahead with this. She would just run forward not really knowing exactly what she was actually doing. That was what I was scared of. She was one of my best friends – maybe possibly my best friend, and she was rarely this idiotic. But when Duncan was involved, she would be. She just wanted to go and get him back.**

"**Gwen," she stutters, "that is his voice. And I've got to go."**

"**No you don't. Don't run on. We'll all go slowly, or call the police-" I reply calmly. **

"**No. The police aren't going to be able to make it here on time. And he screamed loud. It must be serious."**

"**He screamed loud when Heather stepped on his foot," I point out. Courtney looks for Heather, and I snigger at the idea of Heather stepping on his foot now. **

**The worst thing is, I know I have to let her go and find Duncan. I can't not. Duncan did the same thing for her last year, and I know I'll have to let her do it. It's rather sad that Trent would probably save me if I got kidnapped, but I wouldn't save him. I'd be skipping about, celebrating the pessimistic atmosphere, without having Trent's constant optimism. **

"**I know. But that was Duncan up there, and Heather's here. You're not going to stop from going up and trying to find him. Even you know now he's in danger, and you can't deny it. I love him, Gwen. I know you don't love Trent as much as you used to, but you've got to believe me, you'd do the same if you loved him. I've got to go and get Duncan. There's not really an option or a choice in the matter."**

"**I don't think you're actually realising there is a choice in the matter. You could just not go and get Duncan, couldn't you? We could call the police and do something that could actually help him, they could actually arrest the gang, do something proper with them. Not just scare them off like we would." She pulls a face at my suggestion, as if it is the stupidest and most insane suggestion in the world. **

"**Do you like Duncan?" she asks me after a while, raising an eyebrow. **_**Great**_**, I think to myself**_**, just great. **_

"**As a friend…not like-like…um, but he's, err, right for you, I guess," I stutter unsurely, thinking of the first thing that comes to my mind. **

"**Gwen," she says her voice serious and proper, "do you like Duncan?" So she knew I was lying? She's really good to come off with this kind of thing in this situation. **

"**No. I don't like Duncan. He's annoying, and I like Trent," I lie to her, trying to look as honest as possible.**

"**Well if you like Trent so much, picture this situation. You got kidnapped by a rival group of musicians who absolutely hate Trent because he's a lot better than them, and while you're getting kidnapped you go through hell, pretty much. And then there's this phase where things are turning out to be pretty good. And then he gets kidnapped. What would you honestly do?"**

**I feel like saying I would dump him and run far, far away. But I know that answer isn't the one she wants to hear, so I say, "Find him."**

"**Yeah, you'd want to find him. But then there's all these people holding you back from finding him, when all you really want to do in the world is find him. That's what I want to do, Gwen. I just want to find Duncan, like he found me. I know he's never gone, and I do realise that. He might never be gone completely, but he's lost. So you've got to let me run up and look for him. No matter what."**

**I sigh impatiently and look at her. Part of me tells me that I wish I could love Trent the way she loves Duncan, but I know I can't. I don't love Trent, and I know that. I never loved Trent. **

"**Be careful," I warn her. "Don't do anything Lindsay-like. Whatever you do, be careful. I mean it."**

**She nods, and I slowly let go off her shoulder. Like sound, she's off quickly, not caring to say anything else to me. I wish I could love Trent like that. It's sad that I know in my heart that I know I will never love Trent like that. I wish I was her, and part of me wishes so badly I wasn't. **

**She'd really put me on the spot back there about Duncan. Does she honestly know I like Duncan like that? Or was she just guessing. It's hard to tell. I jog slowly behind her, knowing if she screams that I better be there to help her. **


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15 – Courtney's POV**

My legs are weak and tired, and I feel like dropping to my knees and just giving up. But I know I'm so close to finding him that determination of seeing him once again drives me on. I keep thinking that he'll look completely different or sound completely different then what I thought he's sounded like the past month. I try to block the thought of him not being the Duncan I used to know completely out of my head, but it's one of those things that stays in your mind for a long, long time before you can actually consider that it's time to forget it. I keep thinking of the conversation I had with my

mom the first time we arrived here.

"_I know he was a good friend of yours, Courtney, but Duncan, you know the son of Mr and Mrs Rivers? Well he's gone missing and no one knows where he is. They say they've got a big case but straight after they're going to go on the case to find their son. I'm sorry. I know he was a friend of yours."_

"_Oh…that's pretty bad. I feel bad for them. To lose a son like that. Does anybody have any idea where he is or what happened?"_

"_No. No idea at all. His parents think he must have been kidnapped in his room. Poor kid. Keep a look out for him, won't you? Make sure he's not in any of the countries you are?"_

"_Sure, mom. Anyway, I've got to go. I'll call you sometime in the next two days. Say to Mr and Mrs Rivers I hope they find their son."_

The conversation keeps repeating in my head, and I find that it only seems to make it worse. Usually when I repeat something over and over again in my head it never seems quite so bad, but this time it just keeps getting worse and worse as it goes on. It also makes me mildly laugh that I'm so close to finding him and they aren't. The two police officers who are his parents are nowhere near finding their son.

"_As I mentioned before, all my family work in the police force. I spent a lot of my time at police stations on weekends with my parents when I was younger. It was decent enough, I had Petey, who was my pet dog, and he'd always play with me. But Petey ran away when I was seven. I still had to spend my weekends at the police station, but without Petey it just wasn't any fun anymore. So, I met this dude that was being questioned. He was a criminal, it was rather obvious. I asked him what he'd done, and he said he stole some jewellery from this fancy store in the centre. And then I asked him was it worth it, and he shrugged and replied that it was. So I tried it out a few days later, and I liked it. But – if you saw a seven year old kid now walking about the streets stealing stuff, you wouldn't question him, right? So I started to get my image. I pretended to be busy on Saturdays and Sundays, though sometimes I could end up in juvie if I did something really bad. But I was seven; they could only literally keep me in less than a day. When my parents got letters home, I always got them first and hid them myself. And that's it. I guess I just went from there."_

I laugh at this again, remembering that night I was kidnapped. I loved this story. It was the best story Duncan could have told me – it was funny, although I didn't find it that funny at the time. I guess when you're walking down a dark alley alone with a criminal most things are probably not as funny as they'd be when you aren't walking down a dark alley with a criminal.

"_What's wrong?!" I shout to him, over the loud noise of us running and trying to get away from them. I don't turn my head, but I know they're behind us. I can even hear Duncan panting – we're too tired to make it any further, but we're still going. I don't think we've much choice. He starts cursing under his breath, but I can hear him. _

"_DUNCAN! You're not supposed to say those kinds of things," I hiss to him. _

"_I. Don't. Care. Not now anyway," he says. His face is panicked, his expression scared. _

_I guess he knows he messed up. _

"_Duncan – don't blame yourself. You didn't know they were here," I tell him. _

"_Well, guess what, Princess? Guess what's here – reality. You're still here, and so am I. And so are they. We're not safer than we ever were," he keeps running as he says this. _

_The people behind us are catching up on us. I see what they have – a sack, they're obviously here to take me or Duncan – and get some kind of payback, I'm guessing. And I'm the weakest link…Duncan will come after me, that's the thing. _

"_I love you," I tell him briefly. _

It's weird to think this was the last conversation I had with him before I was kidnapped. It's weirder to imagine that I was actually able to have a conversation right before I was kidnapped.

I hear muffled voices up ahead, and I slowly hide behind a nearby tree. The gang themselves haven't changed much – they look exactly the same. There are two old tents sitting on the cracked ground, badly put up and horrendously made. I don't see Duncan, but there's a small place where a fire was once built in the centre of the 'campsite' if you could say that. The stones around it seem to be misplaced, as there isn't enough. I look round for Duncan, but I don't seem him. But I just feel that he's here. No, I know that he's here.

"_Yeah, I get it. 'Outside a dog, a book is a man's best friend, inside a dog; it's too dark to read.'" He had been picking the lock for the past minute are so, kneeling, but he stops to look at me when he hears me say it. "That's the corniest thing I've ever heard."_

"_I never said it was funny," I reply, grumpily. "And it's not that bad. It's rather good, I think."_

"_That's because you don't get real humor." He pauses for a moment, and looks around. "Too silent."_

"_What?" I ask._

"_Here. It's too silent. We should get out of here," he says, breathlessly, rising to his feet. _

"_What do you mean by too silent?" I ask, but he's already dashing away. Something's wrong. _

_I have to go full speed to catch up with him, but he's already faster than me. My legs feel sore, and I'm barely running. Something's wrong. _

"_HIDE!" he screams at me. I'm stunned in the moment, but I quickly hide in a nearby alley behind a ginormous bin. I see him cut a corner, him still running quickly, and then I see it. _

_They're here. I curse under my breath. I barely say the words, scared that they might hear me. I want to close my eyes and look away, but I know I can't. What'll happen to Duncan if I do? _

_I remember the time I was kidnapped, how I gave myself up, hoping Duncan would just make it away safely. And he's doing the same for me now, I think, this being the first time the thought surfaces in my mind. I hear voices, but I can't make out the conversation that well. I hear Duncan laugh and say something like 'I'm not rude, I just speak what everyone else hasn't got the guts to say.' Part of me wants to slap him in the face for saying something like that to them, and I probably would if I wasn't so scared. I hear screams and shouting, and then footsteps, but they seem to be walking away. I stay there for about five minutes, and then slowly raise my head above the bin. I look around, but I can't see anyone. _

"_DUNCAN?!" I scream, panicking. "DUNCAN!" I jog around the place, looking for him. I feel terrible, like I'm going to break-down. And I am. _

_He's gone. Duncan's gone._

That was the last conversation I had with Duncan before he was kidnapped. It won't be the last conversation I have with Duncan ever.

**A/N – You really don't want to know how many old files I had to look through to find these flashbacks? It was quite a lot, let's just say. I thought it was rather important to add them in. The earlier books in this series are the best. I loved Forgive and Forget like a father loves a son. **

**I'm ending this series because I do not have any joy in writing them anymore. That's sad. I loved Forgive and Forget because I loved writing it, but I cannot say I felt the same for the past two books. And so, I'm considering what to do. I've considered documenting the lives of Team Amazon on WT, finishing the Final Straw, or starting fresh completely, but I think time will tell me when I need to write a book. **


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16 – Courtney's POV**

I watch them for a moment, listening to see if Duncan is mentioned. They seem to mutter amongst themselves most of the time, rarely raising their voices. One of the boys keep looking around as if to notice someone was around them, but he keeps turning his head back after a few seconds, not really looking that carefully.

I hear slow footsteps behind me, and I turn quickly to see who it is. I raise an eyebrow when I see Chris McLean, holding a Nerf gun in his hand. His smile and look makes it look like he's about to kill someone, but I eye the plastic gun before sighing quietly. I try to mouth, "Why? Don't shoot them" but he doesn't notice and he just smiles evilly before aiming the plastic gun at them. I pray to myself that he won't run in and shout something so horrendously stupid that I'd have to go in and help him.

"SURRENDER YOUR WEAPONS. MY NAME IS CJ TIMOTHYSON AND I WORK FOR THE F.B.I!"

Sometimes you don't get what you want in life. _CJ Timothyson_? Only an idiot would honestly believe that name. And you wouldn't have to be a genius to figure out that 'CJ Timothyson' doesn't work for the FBI, because he's carrying a Nerf gun. Usually FBI agents would get better weapons. Or at least I would hope they would. Surprisingly, one of the guys throws up his hands and starts weeping hysterically. Another boy rolls his eyes at 'CJ' and the third glares at the boy who's crying.

"You're no FBI agent," the boy rolling his eyes claims proudly. "I know you ain't. You couldn't have found us here anyway if you were in the FBI. And if you really want to, go ahead and shoot us."

Chris aims the gun at them as if he would shoot them, but then screams, "_COURTNEY!_ I can't shoot one of these! Is it broken?"

I reluctantly come out from behind the large tree and tell him, "Just pull the trigger back you idiot. It's not that hard."

Chris smiles and shoots them a few times with the gun while singing, "I was five and she was six, we rode on horses made of sticks, I wore black and she wore white, she would always win the fight, bang bang, she shot me down, bang bang, I hit the ground, bang bang, that awful sound, bang bang, my baby shot me down." Gwen soon arrives in the middle of this and starts laughing at her uncle's incapability to sing. I feel like chopping both of their heads off – this is a pretty serious situation, and it doesn't help that 'CJ' has to sing through the whole thing.

"You're a really bad singer," one of the boys comments, laughing.

"WHERE ART THOU DUNCAN? IS DUNCAN IN THOU TENT? WHERE ART THOU THE YOUNG CRIMINAL?" Chris screams, raising a pocket knife and a plastic bottle as if it was a sword and a shield in a vicious battle. The young boy who was crying falls to his knees.

"In the tent," he says weakly. "He's in the tent." The boy collapses on the ground, and Chris pokes him with his water bottle. "I think he's not dead. But I'm not _sure_. He might be dead."

I try to get past the gang to get into the tent, but they stand solid, like a wall. "I remember you. We kidnapped you sometime last spring, yeah? What was your name…Courtney? That was it. Or Court. That's what he calls you, anyway. You were the really angry one that knocked one of us out."

"Yeah. And I'm not afraid to do it again," I say roughly. My mind keeps swirling around and around again, and I keep thinking of Duncan. He must have brought me up once in a conversation if they know my nickname. Or he probably called me Princess knowing him.

I turn to look behind me, and I see that the rest of my class have arrived. Alejandro instantly lunges for one of the boys, while Heather keeps shouting insults at him, telling him that the punches are not hard enough and even she could do better than that. Lindsay, Noah, Zeke and DJ walk along, whistling or humming innocently, trying to look like they're just normal people having a normal stroll. Even Bridgette and Trent make an effort, by picking up the foam darts around the 'battlefield' that Chris keeps shooting. None of them have been on target, but we let him keep shooting away nevertheless, because I think it makes him feel a lot better to do something then to let him do nothing. Eva is in the middle of tossing the boy on the ground about, while Cody insists he needs CPR and we should probably just try and help him. I never really realised but we do all want to find Duncan, not just me. Usually Trent would be the peace-maker and Bridgette wouldn't be involved in anything of this kind, but they really do care for Duncan. More than I expected anyway.

"Eva, over here!" I scream at her, and she instantly lurches for the boy guarding the tent. He's knocked off his feet, and tries to pull her hair, but she's jumping on him and punching his guts out before he could do any serious damage. I enter the tent cautiously, and look around. It's a large tent, despite the fact it is terribly built. It could fit four people, but all the sections are tightly zipped up. I look at the zip guarding the last section I haven't checked in, and smile. Duncan is in here, and I know it. After a long month, I will finally see him. The hardest part will be getting him out of here and being able to prove we didn't kidnap him. That will be hard. I unzip it, my hands shaking nervously at the idea of seeing Duncan.

"Duncan Rivers."

A/N – I liked this chapter, but I found it insanely difficult to write. I had literally no idea what a scrap fight between a criminal and a bunch of 13 and 14 year olds kids look like, and I highly doubt you would either. But I gave it my best shot. Wow. This means I've hit 4,700 and something words in one day. Twisted.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17 – Courtney's POV**

"_**Princess?**_** Are you seriously here? How on earth did you flippin' find us? I don't even know where we are, first things first, but how did you know here I'd be?"**

"**I didn't. I checked literally everywhere. I checked Der Schnitzel Kickers concert, I checked around the city and you were absolutely **_**nowhere**_**. So CJ Timothyson had this great idea to go on this large school trip-"**

"**Wait. Who's CJ Timothyson?" he asks, puzzled. I'm slightly happy at seeing his puzzled look again. It's been quite a long time since I last saw it. **

"**Chris McLean has a new persona as an FBI agent. Anyway, we went on this long, long school trip to find you, and we were randomly passing here when we stopped off, as Chris wanted a picture here for some kinda competition. Then Lindsay spotted some burnt wood, and the letters on the back. We kept going when we heard a scream from nearby. And it was of course, you."**

"**Who hired Chris for the FBI? What type of idiot would actually consider Chris for the FBI in the first place?"**

"**He's not really in the FBI, Duncan. He only thinks he's in the FBI," I explain quickly. "So what's happened to you? A month is quite a long time to be away, you know."**

**He seems to not enjoy being asked this question and he thinks about it for a second, "I'll tell you mine if you tell me what you happened when you were kidnapped." **

**I shake my head, "No way. I guess I'll just never know then." He nods sheepishly. **

"**We need to get out of here," he says. "Where on earth are we? What country? Africa? Malaysia?"**

"**Duncan, we're in the United States. If we were in a country like that I would have brought eight flasks of water with me for today anyway," I laugh at him. "We're all here."**

"**Who is 'all'?" he questions, raising his eyebrows. **

"_**COURTNEY!" I say happily and rush to her. She's tied up- to a chair – and for a moment I'm grateful that they didn't hang her from the ceiling instead. I slip behind the chair and start to untie the rope that has her hands attached to the back of the chair.**_

"_**You took your time," she says, grinning, but a sense of annoyance in her tone.**_

"_**Well, yeah. Sorry. Princess."**_

"_**So…uh- just you or what? Police?" she questions. **_

"_**Just a few of us."**_

"_**What do you mean by that? Oh that's terrible. I'm asking Duncan a question. He should be asking me the questions," she says.**_

"_**Uh-huh, Princess, don't get used to it. Just um...me, Al, Heather, Trent, Owen, Geoff and uh – Gwen," I admit sheepishly.**_

"**Just everyone in our class except Harold really. We thought he might want to stay behind and educate himself a bit more on the wonders of the world or something like that instead of actually going to see it. I'd quite have liked to do it myself, if you hadn't got kidnapped, that is."**

"**It wasn't my fault!" Duncan says innocently. **

"**Yes it was, Duncan. If you didn't take me on these weird criminal things that seem to always happen to you, I wouldn't be here."**

"**If you hadn't let yourself be put in a sack by my worst nightmares this whole chain of events probably wouldn't have happened in the first place."**

"**Well, let's admit it; you probably would have been caught after a few minutes anyway if I hadn't gone into the sack, so just be grateful that I actually did something for you."**

"**So you going into the sack was the best thing the world has ever seen?" he says sarcastically to me as I nod and smile at him. **

"**Something like that, yes," I reply, smirking. **

"**I missed you," he said.**

"**I probably would have missed you more if you weren't a complete idiot," I say, sentimentally. **

"**You're supposed to be nice."**

"**Who said that?"**

"**It's in the job description of rescuing your boyfriend, isn't it? You know, line 82, page twenty four, being nice to him is essential?"**

"**I didn't read that, but I will next time."**

"**You better."**

**There's an awkward silence between the two of us for a moment or two, until Duncan interrupts. **

"**This isn't a bit similar to what happened to you last time, is it?" **

"**Nope. I was actually indoors," I replied, "and I didn't really care for you that much at the time."**

"**Do you care for me now?" he asks. There's a pause in the conversation as I think about it. Do I? I probably do. But should I honestly say I do? He'll probably just laugh. **

"**Maybe. And maybe not. Only time will tell."**

"**With both of us getting kidnapped at this rate we probably don't have that much time left anyway. And odds are we won't get out of here without you getting blamed for the kidnapping, you realise."**

"**I know. You're just going to have to prove that I didn't kidnap you."**

"**But you did," he laughs as I pull a face. **

"**I did not, Duncan Maximillion Rivers! Who on earth would even want to kidnap you? You wouldn't even be worth stealing. They might as well steal Harold or Zeke, or even Noah over you, and let me just say they're no the most entertaining people in the world!" I shout angrily. **

**I expect him to get angry and shout back, but he just grins and laughs, "Now that's Princess." He puts his hands in his pockets and goes out whistling as if nothing in the world is wrong.  
He's back. Duncan is really back. Everything's okay. Except for the explanation. How on earth am I supposed to explain this without getting in trouble? How can I just simply say to the police or my parents, 'Hi, Duncan was kidnapped by an evil gang of fifteen year olds but everything's just fine now, I guess, but thanks for asking and it's nice to see Duncan again isn't it? It's been quite a long time since we saw Duncan, so I thought we should throw some kinda party. Oh and I forgot to mention that Chris Mclean works as CJ Timothyson for the FBI. That's all, really. Not much gossip.'**

**This is going to be a lot more than difficult. **


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18 – Duncan's POV**

**The first thing that I think when I step out of the tent is that I'll probably get hugged by a lot of people quite a lot, and I probably won't want to be hugged by any of these people at all. The second thing I think of is why Eva is punching the dude on the floor. The next thing I know, I don't have time to think, because just as I had assumed, I'm being bombarded with hugs. **

**Just for the record, I'm not really one of those types of guys that necessarily like hugs. I prefer a simple 'hello' or 'goodbye' and I typically try to avoid all the hand and body movements. So it doesn't help that there's so many people that are actually trying to hug me that I can't really avoid the hugs, so I just have to stand still and talk to them as they wrap their arms around me. I start to get the creeps really quickly, as they all seem pretty desperate to hug me. **

**After all the guys had been beat up, and couldn't really be bothered to move, I go over to Geoff. I'm not really sure what to say, because there's not really a website which tells you what to say when something goes wrong and you get kidnapped. If there was, I probably would have checked it out quite a long time ago. **

"**Nice to see you again," I tell Geoff, calmly. **

"**You too, Duncan. A month is actually quite a long time. But it's cool," he replies, laughing.**

"**DJ hugged me," I point out awkwardly. **

"**I noticed that."**

"**I was pretty scared," I admit. The thing about DJ was that he was constantly trying to hug me and Geoff, and we were constantly freaking out about it. He's been trying to hug Geoff since he was four, and he's been trying to hug me since I was three. Now that was creepy. **

"**Who beat up all-"I start. **

"**Eva. And Alejandro. Chris shot them with Nerf guns, but I don't think that made much of a difference really. We just kind of all sat back and watched it happen. Not like it would make much of a difference anyway."**

"**Heather didn't beat up any of them?" I ask in surprise. In an average situation Heather would beat one or two of them up along with Eva and Alejandro, but then again, I guess this wasn't really an average situation at all. **

"**Na, Alejandro and she were in a fight and she refuses to do whatever Alejandro is doing. Not much changed really. We're still pretty much in the same shape you left us in."**

"**Courtney?" I say, raising an eyebrow. I know Courtney to well to know that she would panic about me crazily and think that she owes me one. **

"**Well yeah, she was a bit panicked. Okay, she was really panicked. But you can't say you weren't panicked when she went missing."**

"**I wasn't," I say, partly annoyed. **

"_**Where is Courtney? I can't believe you Duncan…this is the stupidest thing you've ever done…what about her parents? Gwen? Bridge? They'll notice tomorrow- I mean today," he nearly screams down the phone. I start to pace around the room frantically. **_

"_**I didn't mean it to happen! Princess is like a ticking time bomb. She gave herself up, I couldn't stop her Geoff, I really didn't mean it to happen…like, we were finally getting along and all…" I say, "We need to get her back."**_

"_**Obviously. And you're phoning Bridge and Gwen to explain. I don't care."**_

_**They'll kill me. I know it. **_

"_**I don't have their numbers," I say, stammering, trying to make an excuse. I couldn't bear telling goth kid that I lost Courtney.**_

"**Admit it, Duncan. I remember picking up the phone that night and hearing you tell me that you lost Princess and you were so panicked that I was nearly laughing. It was literally so weird. Duncan Rivers, panicking about his girlfriend. It was one weird experience."**

"**I don't remember that night," I lie. **

"**Well, I never forgot it Duncan. And I remember you coming into school that day and Gwen and Bridgette having a literal fit because you lost their best friend. I remember you telling me that it wasn't a dream. I remember it so clearly, dude."**

"_**Hey, Duncan," he replies, grinning happily, starting to walk down the street with me following him.**_

"_**Uh, hey, Geoff," I tell him puzzled by how happy he seems. Princess is gone. **_

"_**Hey, Duncan, guess what happened last night? I had this crazy dream where you called me and said that Courtney was captured by those fifteen year old kids that you hate, and she still hasn't turned up." **_

"_**Geoff, that wasn't a dream. It's true," I tell him puzzled at why Geoff would even think of dreaming about that. **_

"_**Oh, yeah. I forgot. Look – here's my plan – we get a bunch of us to go and try to defeat them."**_

"_**Who is 'us'?"**_

"_**I don't know – me, you, Al, Trent – if we can get a few others…"**_

"_**You want me to pal up with Alejandro?" No offense – but I and Al weren't currently on the best of terms. Last time we saw each other, we were both sent to the school nurse and got detention.**_

"_**Look, do you want Courtney back, or not?"**_

_**I nod. **_

"_**Well, yeah, then we're using Al, okay?" I sigh, but nod my head. **_

_**We're just outside of the gates when I'm practically attacked by Gwen, while Bridge stands over her. **_

"_**I – I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU! Courtney…like, how idiotic can you be, Duncan?! So what excuse are we gonna make? Oh yeah, teacher, Courtney was captured by a gang of kids a few years older than us and hasn't turned up yet, huh!? You're an idiot," Gwen exclaims.**_

"**I don't really. It was more than six months ago. I don't really have the brain power to fit a long term memory into my brain. I've got more important things to do." I really wanted to shut up about the whole subject, because it's not really something I liked talking about that much. **

"**Oh, and remember that time you refused to team up with Gwen and Bridgette? That was funny."**

"_**I didn't do it on purpose," I insist. **_

"_**I know, but now we have to go and get Courtney," Gwen growls. **_

"_**You don't. I do."**_

"_**We're a team. We mess up together," Bridge says, towering over Gwen and me on the ground. **_

"_**I'm not part of this team. I'm a lone wolf," I persist. **_

"_**We're all part of this team, Duncan. You know it," Bridgette replies. **_

_**I hear the school bell ring in the distance. I take out my phone and see the time – 9:00. Gwen reluctantly gets off me, and sighs. **_

"_**Okay, we meet at lunch and then we come up with a plan," she says confidently. **_

"_**I'm not gonna work with you!" I reply. **_

"_**What other choice do you have, Duncan? And I'm Courtney's best friend. You're not that," she says,**_

"**Can you please stop talking about this Geoff?" I beg, but he continues. **

"**And remember the lunch time when you refused to bring Gwen with you to save Courtney? I enjoyed that. That was entertaining. **

_**So – I'm coming with you guys right?" Gwen demanded. I nearly choke on my food at the suggestion of this. No way am I taking goth chic with me. **_

"_**No, chica," Alejandro replies. **_

"_**I. Am. Coming," Gwen declares. **_

"_**No. You're. Not," I reply. **_

"_**How come Heather gets to go?" she whines. **_

"_**Because," Geoff persists, "she's manipulative."**_

"_**You realise that you, Geoff, Alejandro, Heather, Trent and Owen aren't going to be able to take them down on your own," Gwen points out, directing it at me, "so I vote you at least bring me. That means there's safety in numbers."**_

"_**We already have safety in numbers," Heather replies. **_

"_**Yeah, but with me, you'll have more safety in numbers."**_

"_**We could bring Lindsay and we'd have more safety in numbers, Gwen," I say angrily.**_

"_**Let her come," Trent replies, "it's not like she's gonna mess it up, anyway."**_

"_**Yeah, of course you're gonna say that, since you're dating her," Heather retorts, and then starts a long squabble with Trent, and soon we're all squabbling and shouting at each other.**_

"**Can we PLEASE stop talking about this, Geoff?" I beg again. **

"**Yeah, sure. But you really messed up with Courtney. You're lucky she didn't mess up with you."**

**I nod quickly and look around. Chris shouts at the top of his voice (he's definitely older), "IS EVERYONE READY TO GO?!" There's the average chorus of yes and no, as people complains saying they lost something. **

**Geoff's right. I'm lucky Courtney didn't mess up. And I'm just glad to be getting home. **

**A/N – Some of the chapter which is in Italics is from my original book, Forgive and Forget, which is probably me best compared to any other. It's currently got over 1,200 views, and that's a lot compared to my others. This is second I think…**


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19 – Courtney's POV**

"**Are you telling me you had no involvement in this young man's kidnapping?" the officer asks, glaring down at me. He has been asking these questions for an hour or two, and I am getting rather annoyed at the situation. I have said nearly a million times that I had no involvement in Duncan's kidnapping, but I don't think he believes me. He keeps giving me weird looks. **

"**Well," I stutter, because I haven't really been confronted by an officer that much and I don't really know what to say to him, "I was there, when it happened. But I didn't actually kidnap him, I swear."**

"**I don't really mind whether you swear or don't. I want the truth," the officer said harshly to me. "May I ask why Christian McLean was with you?"**

"**His niece is in my class, and we're friends. He came along to help, you see. He didn't come to kidnap him." I try my luck with the next sentence, "Like, a man with a smile like that wouldn't kidnap anybody, right?" **

**The man nods to my surprise and scribbles something down, not bothering to listen to me much. **

"**You can go, but will be checking that you're telling the truth. We'll contact the police force in your city. Goodbye, and have a nice trip home," he mutters in monotone, as if he's said it over a million times. I instantly in a rush get off my seat, walk to the door and nearly slam it. **

**We had a flight home to Canada in a day, and I was rather nervous. We'd been in the police station all day, even Chris and Lindsay, and we were all pretty tired. I slipped out of the police station immediately and walked to the large RV in the car park. To my surprise, Duncan already was in it, lying on his back and throwing a ball up and down. **

"**How'd you get out so soon?" I ask suspiciously. It wouldn't surprise me if he beat up an officer or two. **

"**I was just asked a few questions and that was about it. It's not like I would kidnap myself, you realise, so there wasn't much to ask, anyway," he replied, dully, but there was a grin on his face. **

"**Is anybody else out yet?" I ask, expecting them all to be out by now but he shook his head. **

"**No one. Lindsay is going to be questioned for quite a long time because she isn't answering the question right probably. There's a silence for a while before I ask him something. **

"**Do you want to go home?" **

"**Yeah. I want to steal from the streets. I want to punch the little kids. I wanna do stuff that I used to do," he says, smiling. "I wanna go to my secret place. My best place."**

**I look at him and raise an eyebrow. He's never mentioned a secret place to me at all. "Where is it? What is it?"**

**He grins at this question, as if he was suspecting me to ask that, "Well, then it wouldn't be a secret, would it? My secret place is a place even Geoff, DJ and you don't know. So ha. You'll never find out."**

**I don't really like secrets being kept from me that much so I get quickly annoyed at his refusal to tell me. "Please Duncan! I really want to know!"**

"**Na, I can't tell you. Maybe when we get home I'll show you it. Maybe I won't. Maybe you just won't know," his smile keeps getting wider as he says this. "Are you excited, Court? For going home, I mean. I know you probably don't want to that much."**

**I nod my head in agreement, "I don't want to go home. Like, what will I tell my parents? It will just be awkward."**

**There's another silence between what we say and we sit and look out the window, waiting for someone else to arrive. **

"**I hope this is the very last time something like this happens to us, Princess. I hope we won't ever have to go through this again. I don't want to. This is enough kidnapping for a lifetime."**

"**I know what you mean. I've just come to the conclusion that I shall not steal stuff with you after all," I say simply. **

"**I'll miss you. You were pretty bad at actually stealing the things, yes, but you were decent enough company. Better than DJ or Geoff, I guess. And you were always in a better mood than them. They really hated me waking them up really late at night, and they complained so much about it that you won't believe it. I want to say thank you, by the way. For being able to manage without me, and being able to control all the insanity in our class. And I want to thank you for saving my butt."**

"**Well, I owed you one you know. For saving my butt in spring. So thank you for that, criminal. I missed you a lot, if it makes you feel any better." **

"**It does. It makes me feel a lot better," he says, and then kisses me. "And I always miss you. When there's no C.I.T. to annoy life isn't worth living really." I laugh at this joke. "No seriously, I've been doing this since I was five. I couldn't live without it."**

"**Maybe I couldn't live without that weird criminal in my life either. Maybe I do like you a tiny bit, Duncan Rivers. Maybe I do love you."**

"**Well, you better," he replies, being serious, "I didn't save you from an evil gang for nothing! If I didn't like you, this whole thing would be pretty pointless."**

"**Funny," I say sarcastically and then look outside to see the others arriving. **

"**So, Court, are you ready to go home now?" Duncan asks, raising his eyebrow. **

"**Yeah, Duncan. I'm ready to go home now," I mutter. **


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20 – Duncan's POV**

"Duncan," she mumbles in shock, "its…amazing. Really! Look at it! I can see my house, and I can see yours, and look, there's Harold's and Justin's. Oh, Duncan. It's the best birthday present I could get. You can see the whole town from here!"

"I know. Nice to be home, huh? It really is cool, isn't it? Geoff and I went for a hike a few years ago, and I saw this place. He walked straight past it, but I've been comin' here every night since I was seven. It's awesome. I came here that night after Trent's party. Do you remember that? The night we kissed?"

"_So – you guys cool?" Geoff asks, rather casually, but I'm pretty sure he's feeling pretty bad. _

"_Yeah," Duncan replies. His tenseness in the situation shows that he wants to leave the conversation, but his best friend is here, and he can't really leave. _

_But then Geoff goes over to DJ, and Duncan doesn't leave. _

_Which suggests he was tense about talking to Geoff. _

_Duncan shuffles over to me, as I immediately tense up and I try to shuffle away from him. _

"_So – you up for tomorrow night?" he asks, mischievously. _

"…_No."_

"_Don't worry, Princess, we won't get caught. And it'll be fun, I swear."_

_I shuffle closer to him, "You're the worst at persuading people."_

"_I know."_

"_So why even bother?"_

"_Because sometimes I can chance my luck with stuff. Like this."_

_And the he kisses me. _

_And the first sentence that enters my mind? _

_Duncan and Courtney._

"Yep, I remember that. Not one of my best memories at the time though," I tell him, looking at all the houses underneath us. Duncan could really not have thought of a better birthday present for me. This was absolutely perfect. He laughs at this, and studies the skyline.

"I missed coming here when I was away. I always do. The time we were on holiday I spent the whole time looking for a place like here. I never found it. So I love here. I love seeing the skyline, I love seeing Geoff's house, and DJ's house, and I always like looking at your house, 'cause it was the only one in the whole street that had solar panels. I always liked that. I don't even know why."

I stare at him for a second, "I'm so happy you're back, you know. I always am. Although I hated it when you knocked me off my feet on the skateboard the first time this whole series of events began."

_Suddenly, I'm knocked off my feet. _

"_Watch where you're going, Duncan!" I scream._

_He flips his skateboard up and tells me, "Well, watch where you're standing, Princess."_

"_It was your fault," I said, climbing to my feet, "that I got knocked down in the first place! Can't you just leave me alone?"_

"_And what's the fun in that?"_

_On my feet, I stare at him speechless. What should I say? He'll keep doing it to me no matter what. He is Duncan, after all. _

_So I reply, "Hey, what's this about you and me dating?"_

"_Well, we are, aren't we Princess?" he grins cheekily. _

"_NO. Never in my lifetime, would I date someone as terrible and as arrogant as you are, Duncan Rivers. You're the worst person I have ever met," I say with dignity. _

"_Well – let's wait and see, huh?" he nods at Bridgette and Gwen, and then skates off, "See ya, Princess!"_

"And," I continued, "I hated that time when we met round the corner, when I was looking for Trent and you were doing whatever you do before school."

"_WHAT is wrong with you?" I ask, angrily. _

"_ME? What is wrong with me? I'm just doing what I do every day of my life. No, the real question is what is wrong with you, Courtney. You're the one who is outta place."_

_He called me Courtney. I stay stunned. Duncan never calls me Courtney. It's always been Princess; it's always been 'Goody-Goody Two Shoes'. But…never Courtney. _

_Friends rarely call me Courtney. It's always Court. _

"_Are you okay?" I say, examining him up and down. _

"_Oh, look. There it goes again! STOP IT. You don't own anybody. You don't need to mother anyone. But you do, Courtney," he scoffs, "life isn't all just dandelions and unicorns, okay?"_

_I look at him horrified. "I'm just looking for Trent, okay? A friend. At least, Duncan, I have friends."_

"_Oh, grow up, Courtney."_

"_I am! I don't live in the idea that we can all rob and steal to make it in life, ok? That's fine when you're five, Duncan. Not when you're nearly thirteen."_

_He doesn't say anything, but his face does. His silence speaks a million words. He walks past me, but he doesn't detour his way to go to the side of me, he just walks right into my shoulder. I fall down again, looking at him angrily. _

"_Oh, grow up, Duncan," I scoff. _

_I struggle to my feet. Ugh. Duncan. Of all the people…_

"What are you trying to prove here, huh? That all the memories of me are pretty bad? Because I remember straight after I saved you wasn't that bad."

"_You got a head start! That doesn't count," I groan, acting like a little kid. _

"_Course it does," she replies, "I'm pretty sure all wins count."_

_She starts dashing when we reach the streets. I'm tired and worn out, and she starts jeering at me, Al and Heath. _

"_Unfair," Heath replies, "you've got to store energy while the rest of us had to go and save your sorry butt, Princess."_

"_That's my nickname for her!" I growl angrily, "I'm the only one allowed to use that."_

"_Well, I used it punk. Beat that," Heather says smiling. _

_Courtney starts to goes slower, and then whispers to me, "We'll get her for that."_

_I smile at Princess, and laugh, "We sure will."_

"_So – we on tomorrow, I mean today, at night?" she says, giggling. _

"_Think we should leave it for a while," I reply. _

"_Sure. But we're on some day, right?" she persists. _

"_We'll be on again, Princess," I say, kissing her, "but not for a while."_

_Courtney pauses, "What a weird couple we are."_

"_Yeah. Duncan and Courtney. DX.,"_

"Fine! That wasn't a bad memory. I quite enjoyed that one really. But most of the memories I have of you are pretty bad. Like the first time you came round to my house. That was horrific. I wanted to throw my head at a brick wall the time that happened."

_I see my mum's car drive up into the parking lot. It's a decent enough car. It's a Volkswagen Fox 1.2-litre urban 3dr. My brother accidentally banged into the old car several times, and it was pretty much wrecked. Due to the fact that my brother was riding a bicycle when he banged into the car, of course. _

"_Hey, mom," I say as I climb into the car and shut the door._

"_Hello, Courtney. I better get back quickly because I've got some friends over," she says happily. _

"_Fr-fr-friends?" I question puzzled. _

_My mom isn't the kind of person who makes 'friends.' _

"_Yes. I met them at the Parent Interviews, and they were so amiable. I think they've actually got a son in your year…but, they work in the police force, and they are very sophisticated. I bet there son is very sophisticated to. So I want you to be nice and civilized to him, okay? They're picking their son up now, too, and then they'll be back."_

"_Of course I'll be civilized to him."_

_I wonder who he could be, really. To be perfectly honest – I know very few 'civilized' boys in my year. I continue to think – but by the time I just start we're already home. _

_I do what I usually do when I get home – head upstairs and do my homework. _

"_Courtney – the guests," she reminds. _

"_Call me when they arrive. I'm falling behind," I shout, running up the stairs. _

_I lay all my homework out on the floor. It's all mostly just worksheets, which I don't mind that much. I sharpen my pencil and begin to write the first word…_

"_COURTNEY! THE GUESTS HAVE ARRIVED," my mother shouts. _

_I sigh and head downstairs…who? Who could it be?_

_And before I can think about it more carefully, I'm starring right into the delinquent's eyes._

"Your reaction after the situation was pretty good to. And I acted it all out pretty well, you have to admit it," Duncan comments.

"_Courtney, this is Mrs Rivers, and this is her younger son, Duncan."_

_To quote myself - Duncan. Of all the people…_

"_Hello, Courtney," Duncan says, sweetly. Innocently. _

"_Oh! Do you two know each other?" Mrs Rivers asks. _

"_Only vaguely," Duncan replies to his mom, "but I'll really like getting to know her better."_

"_Aww! See that, Courtney? What a lovely and kind boy he is! Why don't you two go out to the park? Do something fun together?"_

_Before I can reply 'No', Duncan chips in, "Oh, yes! Let's Courtney!" _

_It sounds like he's in one of those old 'Famous Five' books. Who on earth says 'let's' anymore?_

"_Well, off you two go," my mom insists. _

"_But, mom, I'm really behind-" I say angrily. _

"_Oh, don't spoil the fun for our guest," my mom interrupts, and pushes me out the door. She slams it quickly. _

"_Fancy seeing you here, Princess," he grins. _

"_Oh, give up, Duncan. You very well knew this was my house."_

"_What did you think of my act?"_

"_You make me sick. No wonder you're failing Drama."_

"_It wasn't that bad. Your mom fell for it," he points out, still grinning like a madman. _

"Anyway, thank you. This is the best birthday ever," I say hugging him, laughing.

He grins and stares out at the scenery.

**A/N – I know I'm putting a lot of flashbacks in from FAF but to be honest, I think they help the book. They remind readers of previous points that happened in the different books, and I think that's needed really. A lot of people might not have read the other books. **


	21. Epilogue

**Epilogue – Courtney's POV**

**Courtney and Duncan. Duncan and Courtney. **_**Duncney**_**. I've got the worst and best memories of him, and I think about them quite a lot. I've even got an order.**

**Best memory – (from his POV, it seemed more interesting like this.)**

"_**Ha," she jeers at me when she's ahead of me, "I am faster than you."**_

"_**You got a head start! That doesn't count," I groan, acting like a little kid. **_

"_**Course it does," she replies, "I'm pretty sure all wins count."**_

_**She starts dashing when we reach the streets. I'm tired and worn out, and she starts jeering at me, Al and Heath. **_

"_**Unfair," Heath replies, "you've got to store energy while the rest of us had to go and save your sorry butt, Princess."**_

"_**That's my nickname for her!" I growl angrily, "I'm the only one allowed to use that."**_

"_**Well, I used it punk. Beat that," Heather says smiling. **_

_**Courtney starts to goes slower, and then whispers to me, "We'll get her for that."**_

_**I smile at Princess, and laugh, "We sure will."**_

"_**So – we on tomorrow, I mean today, at night?" she says, giggling. **_

"_**Think we should leave it for a while," I reply. **_

"_**Sure. But we're on some day, right?" she persists. **_

"_**We'll be on again, Princess," I say, kissing her, "but not for a while."**_

_**She pauses, "What a weird couple we are."**_

"_**Yeah. Duncan and Courtney. DXC."**_

**Second best memory –**

_**I quickly get out of my bed, and look out the window. It still is pouring. There is a small tree that leads up to my window. I used to climb it a lot and get into the house that way and trick my mom. **_

_**But I know for sure I wouldn't climb it now. Mainly, due to the fact that I am here right know. **_

_**I see a figure start to climb the tree. He's rather agile, and he reaches the window in seconds.**_

_**Duncan. **_

_**I stare at him astonished. Why would he be here, now? It's 1:07 in the morning.**_

_**What?**_

"_**Courtney, just, please let me in," he asks. Or he begs. I open the window up for him. I take pity on the delinquent in the pouring rain.**_

_**He climbs into my bedroom. He's dripping wet. What? Why? **_

"_**Duncan, are you okay? What on earth happened?" I ask, "Duncan, its 1:07 in the morning, and you just turn up here? At my house? This isn't a joke, Duncan! This is the stupidest prank ever!" I pace around the large bedroom. **_

"_**Princess, this ain't a prank. This ain't a joke!" he growls at me. **_

"_**W-what did you do?" I ask nervously. **_

"_**Look – Court – they're chasing me, I'm pretty sure. Your house was the closest."**_

"_**Who's chasing who?" I say, and then hear sirens underneath.**_

"_**I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU! THE POLICE?" I growl, trying to be quiet as I know my mom is probably still awake.**_

**Third best memory – **

"_**He's Chris, right? The dude you told me about. I remember. He's the second eldest of the McLean's," Duncan said, looking unsure, as if it wasn't him. "Why would he be in our school?"**_

_**I honestly don't know. It puzzles me as much as it puzzles him. Not that I'm too proud of it anyway. It's Duncan's thoughts. It's generally embarrassing to be puzzled when he's puzzled. **_

"_**I don't know," I reply, lost for words to say anything else. He's famous. Very famous. It doesn't make sense why he'd appear at Idiotic Trust. I see the principal talking to him – bragging about the high standards of the school, etc., etc. I can see on Chris's face he doesn't believe there are high standards – just like anyone else I guess. **_

_**The principal spots us – he seems rather happy to see us for once. He usually doesn't – can't be bothered actually doing stuff principal's should do. **_

"_**Hello, Duncan and Courtney," the principal says confidently. "This is Chris McLean. He's looking for someone in your year. Would you help him? As you know, I've some trouble remembering the students of the school because of uh-brain damage."**_

"_**Sure," I reply, as the principal walks away. "Who are you looking for?" It's hard to believe that he's looking for someone in our year, really. **_

"_**You're the criminal and the C.I.T. aren't you? The two that are dating," he replies, smiling. **_

"_**Well uh- I guess so," I tell him. It's hard to face the terms that Chris knows me and Duncan. I'll admit, the publicity went on for a long time, but I didn't expect celebrities like him to know us. **_

"_**Yep. I'm the one dating Princess here," Duncan says, grinning. I nudge him angrily to which he replies, laughing, "Ow, Princess. Angry?"**_

**Worst memory –**

"_**Nothing. I've checked absolutely everywhere. There's nothing here," Gwen replies for the tenth time. It takes me a second to process it. He's not here. The thought that he could be far, far away by now resurfaces, and it frightens me. He did everything to save me, and I feel like I'm doing nothing, although I know I'm doing absolutely everything. I mutter under my breath, "He's gone. I know it."**_

"_**Na, Courtney. We'll find him," Trent says to me. I didn't expect him to overhear what I said, but I just nod. I look terrible. I have ever since he left. Duncan's parents have come over twice since he disappeared, and they've filed hundreds of reports about their 'run-away' son. I always feel bad when I hear about. I always feel like I did this to him, although I know I shouldn't. I didn't. I think. **_

"_**Duncan is fully capable of looking after himself. He'll be absolutely fine," Bridgette assures me as I poke through some more old cupboards. **_

"_**I know, okay? I just wanna keep looking in case," I reply, flatly. Saying I've not been great is an underestimate – I'm literally terrible. **_

"_**Yeah, but if he really cared about you, wouldn't he have come back be now? Obviously, he doesn't. Poor Courtney," she laughed, and I see Gwen send her an evil glare across the room. "Oh give it up, Weird Goth Girl, we all know you like Duncan." Gwen bites her lip, but I barely take notice of what Heather said. She's right. Duncan's gone. **_

_**And I'll never know if he comes back.**_

**Second worst memory –**

"_**HIDE!" he screams at me. I'm stunned in the moment, but I quickly hide in a nearby alley behind a ginormous bin. I see him cut a corner, him still running quickly, and then I see it. **_

_**They're here. I curse under my breath. I barely say the words, scared that they might hear me. I want to close my eyes and look away, but I know I can't. What'll happen to Duncan if I do? **_

_**I remember the time I was kidnapped, how I gave myself up, hoping Duncan would just make it away safely. And he's doing the same for me now, I think, this being the first time the thought surfaces in my mind. I hear voices, but I can't make out the conversation that well. I hear Duncan laugh and say something like 'I'm not rude, I just speak what everyone else hasn't got the guts to say.' Part of me wants to slap him in the face for saying something like that to them, and I probably would if I wasn't so scared. I hear screams and shouting, and then footsteps, but they seem to be walking away. I stay there for about five minutes, and then slowly raise my head above the bin. I look around, but I can't see anyone. **_

"_**DUNCAN?!" I scream, panicking. "DUNCAN!" I jog around the place, looking for him. I feel terrible, like I'm going to break-down. And I am. **_

_**He's gone. Duncan's gone.**_

**Third worst memory – **

_**I start to make my way home, still saying 'Duncan!' but quieter. He's gone. He's really gone. I start to cry as I come up to my house and pull myself up the tree. I slowly slip into my room, and I slouch against the wall, slipping down from it slowly. **_

_**This is what he went through, I remind myself. He survived, and he wasn't scared, I try to tell myself. But he was Duncan, I think, and I'm not Duncan. I'm Courtney. I'm the goody-two shoes. The person who spends her free time studying. It takes me a while to bring myself to the fact that he isn't here. He's gone. For how long, I don't know, but for now, he's gone.**_

_**Mixed memory –**_

_I slope against the wall, not too far from Geoff. In an instant, he notices me and drags Duncan over with him. _

"_Hey, Court," Geoff says, smiling, "what do you think of the party?"_

"_Decent. A usual Trent," I reply, "Anyway, sorry, Duncan, ya know, about earlier," I say, trying to act cool about it. _

"_It's 'k," he replies, "I've had worse."_

"_Ahh. You guys been arguing? You really need to stop that. Why on earth can't we all just PARTY?!"_

"_Yeah, Duncan. Why can't we all just party?" I ask him, staring at him. _

_He pauses. _

"_Because there are a lot of worse things happening in the world," he replies, not looking at me at all. _

"_So – you guys cool?" Geoff asks, rather casually, but I'm pretty sure he's feeling pretty bad. _

"_Yeah," Duncan replies. His tenseness in the situation shows that he wants to leave the conversation, but his best friend is here, and he can't really leave. _

_But then Geoff goes over to DJ, and Duncan doesn't leave. _

_Which suggests he was tense about talking to Geoff. _

_Duncan shuffles over to me, as I immediately tense up and I try to shuffle away from him. _

"_So – you up for tomorrow night?" he asks, mischievously. _

"…_No."_

"_Don't worry, Princess, we won't get caught. And it'll be fun, I swear."_

_I shuffle closer to him, "You're the worst at persuading people."_

"_I know."_

"_So why even bother?"_

"_Because sometimes I can chance my luck with stuff. Like this."_

_And the he kisses me. _

_And the first sentence that enters my mind? _

_Duncan and Courtney._

_**Best memory of Gwen and Bridgette –**_

"_No wonder you prefer Trent coming to yours then you coming to his," Bridgette told Gwen ask all three of us conquered the massive hill. You could see brightly coloured lights even from the bottom of the hill. Spotlights surrounded the house, shining all around it. _

"_Well, yeah. I think if we ever get married, we're more or less moving house," Gwen said, tiredly, "our at least moving the house."_

"_They," I say as I trudge up the hill, puffing and wheezing, "should have thought about where they were going to put the house more carefully."_

"_But then again, they bought the house before Trent was born. Who would have really known that they would have had a son that was going to throw these kinds of parties?" Gwen muttered. "You know he's got like 150 people coming to this."_

_150 was a big enough number for a seventh-grader's party, but I wasn't really that shocked. Trent had a knack for getting big numbers to come to his parties._

"_So, how are you and Duncan?" Gwen asked quizzically. _

"_YOU AND DUNCAN?!" Bridgette exclaimed. "SINCE WHEN?!"_

"_It's not like that Bridgette," she pauses, "I swear."_

"_I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'VE GOT A BOYFRIEND!" Bridgette said, jumping on her best friends and screaming. _

"_We aren't dating, Bridge," I say, trying to calm her down. _

"_Well, are you close to dating?" she asks hopefully. _

"_No," I reply._

_**Best advice ever given about Duncan –**_

_The first thing that was on my mind was to talk to Zoey. _

_Zoey was a friend from school. We had met occasionally, and she was always seemingly great with dealing with these things. Zoey's got a boyfriend called Mike, who's got a multiple personality disorder, so she can deal with most things by now. _

_She doesn't live that far away from me, only about a street away. I ring the doorbell when I approach her house, and of course Zoey answers. _

"_Courtney! Come in," she says happily, but then looks puzzled, "what's up?"_

_It's a long conversation, but Zoey seems to understand. She seems to understand it all. _

"_So – what are you more panicked about, the fact that you are an accomplice in a small crime, or the fact that you like Duncan? Or is it both?"_

"_What do you mean? I don't like Duncan."_

"_Well, it's kinda obvious Courtney. Maybe you just don't see it yet. But you'll see it, Courtney. Maybe not for a while, but when the time comes it will be right before your eyes."_

"_But…I don't. Duncan and I aren't right for each other; he's got so many flaws-"_

"_And Mike doesn't?"_

_I look at her, rather astonished. She can't possibly be right. _

"_People have flaws, Court. If we didn't have flaws, we'd all be stuck-up, and we'd all be egotistical. So, sometimes – if we keep pointing out someone's flaws, it just shows that we treat them more special, because you wouldn't point out your friend's flaws, like you would with this person. So, by telling people his flaws, it shows that you like him. That you pay special attention to him."_

**We've been through a lot. Through the worst of times to the best, from everything to absolutely nothing. He's a complete Neanderthal, but I love him. I love him and I love us. I love Duncney. I'll never forget it. **

**And I'll never forget what he did for me. I'll never forget him, no matter what he was and what he did, no matter how bad he was before. I love Duncan. I love him with all my heart and all my soul. And maybe it won't last forever, and maybe it will die in a few years' time, but I know that I loved him once. I always will remember Duncney as the couple that defied the odds and got together. The amazing couple that loved each other for all of each other's faults. I'll always remember Duncney, no matter what. I'll always remember the punk, the criminal, the Neanderthal. I'll always remember Duncan Rivers.**

**THE END!**

**A/N – COMPLETE! 29****TH**** APRIL. I've finished 12,000 words in two days! Yes, I was on 13,000 on the 27****th****. I'm not kidding. Just wanna celebrate! I'd like to thank everyone who helped me, and I'd like to dedicate my first win to ChloeRhiannonX, who actually wa probably the main reason I started writing here in the first place, and my cabin mates on NaNoWriMo who really inspired me to win it even though I was drastically behind most of the time, so thank you for everything they've done to help me. So, here I am, actually finished. Although it's only 25,000 words, I really do feel pretty good about it in general. **


	22. Author's Note

**The first thing I'd like to say about Camp NaNoWriMo is that it really is amazing. I really enjoyed it despite the general fact I ended up having to complete 12,000 words in two days. I ended up finishing on April 29****th****, with my words as 25,059, word goal 25,000.**

**Anybody who hasn't done it, I'd recommend to do it, really. Camp NaNoWriMo really makes writing easier than it should be; giving the fact you've got a month. I really enjoyed it, and I'm hoping to do NaNoWriMo in December. **

**About my next book, the Final Straw is on temporary hiatus. The next book will be about Team Amaxon behind the scenes, and I seem to really like the idea, so maybe it might be the first book I've liked writing since Forgive and Forget (FAF). **

**Wish me luck!**

**ChrisMcLean-Cody-Duncan-TD**


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